Strategic CSR - Water + A.I.

The article in the url below does a good job of quantifying the environmental impact (in terms of water) of using A.I.:

"You might not realize it, but every time you ask an AI chatbot a question, a data center is forced to guzzle water. To be precise, a data center requires about a 500-milliliter bottle of water to generate 10 to 50 medium-length GPT-3 responses, according to one analysis. Generating an image uses substantially more water than text, and a video uses dramatically more than an image."

 

The article also does a good job of explaining why the water cost is so high:

 

"Data centers need a way to cool their servers to prevent them from overheating. One of the main methods of doing this is through cooling towers that evaporate water. Data centers also consume water indirectly through electricity generation, since the power plants that feed them energy also need to be cooled."

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

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Thirsty AI Creates Another Climate Risk

By Michelle Ma

May 8, 2025

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-05-08/thirsty-ai-creates-another-climate-risk