Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10267315
Initial research shows that AI has a significant water footprint. It uses water both for cooling the servers that power its computations and for producing the energy it consumes. As AI becomes more integrated into our societies, its water footprint will inevitably grow.
The growth of ChatGPT and similar AI models has been hailed as “the new Google.” But while a single Google search requires half a millilitre of water in energy, ChatGPT consumes 500 millilitres of water for every five to 50 prompts.
You may not be fully aware of where AI is being used. The LLMs get a lot of press for both being impressive and at the same time not living up to expectations. However, there are other AI efforts that are having real results.
I support radiology imaging at a large U.S. health system, and there are several different AI systems being tested and deployed that assist with diagnosis. It may not get a lot of mainstream articles published, but it allows doctors to treat patients more efficiently, which has the potential to both reduce costs and increase access to care.
I’m sure there are similar efforts in every other industry.