OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently tackled concerns regarding artificial intelligence’s ecological footprint while presenting at an event organized by The Indian Express.
To commence, Altman – visiting India for a significant AI conference – stated that worries concerning AI’s water consumption are “completely unfounded,” though he conceded it posed a genuine problem when “we employed evaporative cooling methods in data centers.”
“Since we no longer practice that, reports surface on the web claiming, ‘Avoid ChatGPT; it consumes 17 gallons of water for every inquiry’ and so forth,” Altman explained. “This is utterly false, absolutely nonsensical, and devoid of factual basis.”
He further stated that it’s “reasonable” to worry about “the electricity expenditure — not for each individual request, but overall, given the global surge in AI adoption.” From his perspective, this implies humanity must “transition to nuclear or wind and solar very rapidly.”
There’s no statutory obligation for technology firms to reveal their exact energy and water consumption, leading researchers to endeavor to investigate it autonomously. Furthermore, data centers have been associated with increasing electricity rates.
Referencing an earlier discussion with Bill Gates, the questioner inquired if it was precise to assert that one ChatGPT request presently consumes energy comparable to 1.5 iPhone battery charges. Altman’s response was, “It cannot possibly approach that figure.”
Altman also lamented that numerous debates concerning ChatGPT’s power consumption are “unjust,” particularly when scrutinizing “the energy expenditure required to develop an AI model, compared to the power a human needs for a single inferential query.”
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“However, it also requires substantial energy to educate a human being,” Altman stated. “It entails approximately two decades of existence and all sustenance consumed throughout that period prior to achieving intellect. Furthermore, it involved the extensive evolutionary journey of the billions of individuals who have ever existed, mastering avoiding predation and developing the capacity to comprehend science and various other fields, to culminate in your existence.”
Therefore, from his perspective, the just comparison would be, “When posing a query to ChatGPT, what energy expenditure is involved, post-training, to respond to that query, as opposed to a human? And likely, AI has already matched or surpassed human energy efficiency, when assessed by that metric.”
The complete interview is available for viewing underneath. The discussion regarding water and power consumption commences approximately at the 26:35 mark.
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