OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has disclosed new details about the environmental footprint of ChatGPT, revealing that each query consumes about 0.34 watt-hours of electricity and approximately 0.000085 gallons of water, roughly equivalent to one-fifteenth of a teaspoon.
In a blog post titled The Gentle Singularity, Altman compared the energy use of a single query to “an oven running for just over one second” or “a high-efficiency lightbulb glowing for a couple of minutes.” The figures offer one of the most specific public insights to date into the resource demands of OpenAI’s artificial intelligence systems.
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The data shows significantly lower consumption than some earlier estimates. A 2023 report by The Washington Post had suggested that generating a brief message with GPT-4 could use the water equivalent of a full bottle, depending on the location of the data center.
Altman also addressed growing concerns about the sustainability of AI technology, noting that the rapid rise in economic value from AI has triggered “a flywheel of compounding infrastructure buildout” to more powerful systems. He projected that over time, as datacenters become more optimized, “the cost of intelligence should eventually approach the cost of electricity.”
These disclosures appear to be part of OpenAI’s broader initiative to be more transparent about its energy usage, especially as environmental watchdogs and policymakers raise alarms about AI’s escalating power demands. Some researchers have even warned that AI energy consumption could exceed that of Bitcoin mining by the end of 2025.
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Altman also previously remarked that polite interactions with ChatGPT, including saying “please” and “thank you”, have led to tens of millions of dollars in additional electricity costs for the company.
As public scrutiny over AI’s environmental impact grows, such transparency efforts may play a key role in shaping regulatory conversations and influencing the industry’s sustainable development.