URL: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/chatgpt-is-everywhere-environmental-costs-oped
Estimates vary on the amount of resources a ChatGPT search requires compared with a typical Google search (sans AI overviews), but a 2024 report from the International Energy Agency placed the chatbot's energy usage for a single query at nearly 10 times that of the search engine.
A 2024 analysis of the energy output of using ChatGPT by the Washington Post and researchers at UC Riverside found that just one 100-word email drafted by ChatGPT-4 uses about a water bottle’s worth of H2O, and enough electricity to power 14 LED lightbulbs for an hour.
These companies certainly seem to be aware of the consequences of pursuing more and more energy- and resource-consuming AI. Environmental reports for 2024 from Google and Microsoft detail ambitious sustainability goals that include reducing emissions and water usage, while making clear they know they haven’t been meeting their targets.
McMillan Cottom categorizes artificial intelligence as “mid” tech — hardly the technological revolution worth the amount of waste and environmental damage it’s meting out: “[Most] of us are using [AI] for far more mundane purposes. AI spits out meal plans with the right amount of macros, tells us when our calendars are overscheduled, and helps write emails that no one wants. That’s a mid revolution of mid tasks.”