I did not connect the water issue to computers. We know the Progressives do not like nuclear, because it warms up some ocean water. Now we find that AI usage will cause a high demand for water.
“Microsoft, along with a growing list of companies like Meta and Alphabet, has set 2030 as a deadline for restoring more water to the environment than it consumes for operations, otherwise known as being “water positive”. However, building and maintaining models like the Microsoft-backed GPT-4 requires a lot of computing and hardware, which produces a lot of energy and heat… and in turn requires a lot of water to cool systems within data centers so they don’t overheat, resulting in the sort of consumption MSFT saw last year.
Are Zuckerberg, Bezos, Gates and the rest, bad for the environment? Looks like it. While Gates is trying to save trees in the Amazon, he is killing water reserves in America. Where is the outrage?
Thirsty: Microsoft’s water usage was up 34% last year
Chartr, 9/11/23 https://www.chartr.co/thank-you
Thirst bots
Until someone finds a better way to contextualize large volumes of liquid, we’ll put it like this: in 2022, Microsoft consumed enough water to fill over 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools as it continued to fuel and cool its growing stable of AI tools and projects.
Every time you ask the ChatGPT-powered Bing to inspire you with recipe ideas — which honestly might not be that often — it’s thirsty work for the bot. Researchers estimate that, owing to the cooling processes required for the hardware, ChatGPT almost guzzles a full 16-oz bottle of water for every 5-50 prompts it’s fed.
Water hoarding
Microsoft, along with a growing list of companies like Meta and Alphabet, has set 2030 as a deadline for restoring more water to the environment than it consumes for operations, otherwise known as being “water positive”. However, building and maintaining models like the Microsoft-backed GPT-4 requires a lot of computing and hardware, which produces a lot of energy and heat… and in turn requires a lot of water to cool systems within data centers so they don’t overheat, resulting in the sort of consumption MSFT saw last year.
In 2022, the company’s water use was up 34% from the year before, with ~6.4 million cubic meters — or 1.7 billion gallons — consumed. That figure becomes even more stark when compared to Microsoft’s usage in 2017, just 5 years prior, when the company sunk ~1.95 million cubic meters of water, a whopping 228% less.
Nah, nah, nah, you’ve got it all wrong. These guys, Zuck, Beezy, and Gato, they’re all greenies, pure as driven snow, they would NEVER do anything to harm the environment, or the planet……
Just ask them.
I am in industrial water treatment and this cannot be remedied simply by using less when production of any sort goes up. Unless of course we find waste from poor treatment of the usable water that leads to higher usage (i.e., down the drain) to protect the equipment from damage of water being a natural solvent against the metals of the equipment. Water needs to be cycled out when over used and thus more better quality water can be brought in. No doubt some top minds are always on top of their water treatment game. Or are they?