By Ricardo Salazar, researcher at SERC Chile – Pontifical Catholic University.

So far in 2024, have you asked ChatGPT, Bard, or Gemini any questions or requested information from them? Artificial intelligence is significantly transforming numerous fields, becoming an indispensable ally for people. Among its benefits, it optimizes processes, boosts creativity, and facilitates decision-making. But be careful—every time you ask ChatGPT five or more questions, it consumes at least half a liter of water.

Now, you might be wondering why, and the reason is that for AI to answer questions, perform translations, generate summaries, and do other tasks, it needs data centers housing millions of powerful computers that process millions of calculations and requests in real time. These data centers consume more than 1% of the planet’s total energy.

Microsoft’s latest sustainable development report from 2024 showed that the company’s water use totaled nearly eight billion liters in 2023—double the water consumption reported in 2020—which is equivalent to the total annual water consumption (residential and industrial) in cities such as Valparaíso or Concepción, according to consumption reports from the Superintendency of Sanitary Services (SISS) for 2022 and 2023.

Google also reports high figures. In its latest sustainability report, it states that it consumed more than 2.2 billion liters of water. In both cases, consumption has increased over the years and is expected to continue rising. Compounding this increase in water use is the fact that the water used for cooling is fresh or potable water, and much of it evaporates during the cooling process, preventing its reuse. Furthermore, many of these data centers are located in regions with water shortages. However, water consumption is not limited to cooling alone. Artificial intelligence also has an enormous water footprint, as its manufacturing and deployment require thousands of liters of water. As mentioned, data centers contain millions of computers, and the production of hardware—which includes physical components such as processors, RAM, hard drives, and motherboards—requires intensive mining of minerals such as boron, phosphorus, gallium, and germanium. The extraction of these minerals has a significant impact on the environment and contributes to water pollution. Furthermore, the manufacture of semiconductors and microchips requires large volumes of water. Thus, for every component involved—such as a cable, a sensor, or a tag—the associated water footprint is added.

Looking ahead, as AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, its water footprint will inevitably increase, and before this becomes unsustainable, I would like to put forward—for reflection and debate—the idea that we must begin to consider alternatives that could be implemented today, such as the use of treated wastewater, the use of seawater, the construction of new data centers designed to minimize water consumption, and the circular economy in manufacturing processes. For more information, click here