OpenAI CEO Sam Altman isn’t worried about AI’s increasingly glaring resource consumption, and argued humans require a lot, too.
In an onstage interview at the India AI Impact Summit, he went on the defensive after he was asked about ChatGPT’s water needs.
He dismissed claims that the chatbot uses gallons of water per query as “completely untrue, totally insane,” according to a clip posted by the Indian Express, explaining that data centers powering ChatGPT have largely moved away from water-heavy “evaporative cooling” to prevent overheating.
Altman was then asked about the electricity needed for AI. In contrast to the issue of water, he claimed it was “fair” to bring up the technology’s energy requirements, saying: “We need to move toward nuclear, or wind, or solar [energy] very quickly.”
But he pointed out that comparing AI’s power needs to humans isn’t exactly apples to apples.
