Sam Altman: AI Water Use Fears Overblown

Sam Altman says fears about AI data centers using too much water are overblown. The OpenAI CEO calls these concerns a "meme" that doesn't hold up to scrutiny. He states that modern data centers use about the same amount of water as a typical office building. A 2024 report from Virginia, a hub for data centers, supports this. It found most data centers used similar or less water than a large office building. What's interesting is that a Gallup report shows 71% of Americans oppose data center construction in their area. 70% worry about environmental impact, with 18% specifically citing water concerns. Altman also compared the water used by ChatGPT to growing California almonds. He suggests growing one almond takes more water than thousands of ChatGPT queries. He says an average ChatGPT query uses about 0.32 milliliters of water. In contrast, a 2019 study found growing a single almond in California requires about 3.56 liters of water. The bottom line is that Altman believes the AI industry needs to deliver value to change public perception about these issues.