Science
Dark Secret Behind Every ChatGPT Chat: What You Might Not Know
Many of us have misgivings about ChatGPT and AI, and it turns out that there is still more compelling argument against our over-reliance on these technologies.
Since ChatGPT’s initial release in 2022, people have been utilising it to aid with almost anything in their daily life, including job applications, general questions, and clever first-date jokes.
The bad news is that ChatGPT will remember every question you’ve ever asked if you feel the need to use it for information that Google or your grandmother can most likely give you.
The dark truth behind every time you have a conversation on ChatGPT
You may be thirsty for information, but ChatGPT appears to be thirsty for the water supply of the planet. According to reports, each time you open it for a brief talk, you waste about 50cl of water for every 10 to 50 questions.
In addition to wasting water, Forbes claims that ChatGPT uses more than half a million kilowatts of electricity every day—a astonishing number that could handle over two hundred million requests.
Approximately 180,000 households in the US are using that amount to pay ChatGPT to write their college essays.
The cost of saying words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to ChatGPT?
Saying please and thank you to ChatGPT on the few instances when you truly ‘need’ to use it is something I strongly believe in since it may make the AI overlords treat us a little kinder when they eventually take over the planet in a few years and society falls apart.
The OpenAI founder joked that it might cost tens of millions of dollars on X, but it turns out that simply adding these extra few words is also causing some severe harm.
According to IT expert Dylan Patel, ChatGPT costs more than £500,000 a day to operate. However, we don’t know how much of that is wasted on humans attempting to be courteous to a robot.
How do data centres that ChatGPT use work?
Data centres require a lot of water to prevent the AI servers from physically melting a human with their heat, much like a computer that overheats when overworked.
David Craig, the CEO of Iceotope, a British startup that assists in cooling data centres, says as much.
Towers evaporating the heat, akin to a massive perspiration system, are used in the data centres’ water-based cooling systems, which results in water loss.
Additionally, the water must be fit for human consumption, as any contaminants could harm the servers.
How concerning is the environmental impact?
Well, it’s not good. The costs to the environment will only rise as AI becomes more and more integrated into our daily lives.
This technology is powered by electricity and drinking water that could be utilised to provide dwellings.
We’re using a lot of this clean drinking water to prevent these data servers from breaking, and by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population is predicted to experience water scarcity, which would impact every part of peoples’ lives, according to Forbes.
Therefore, the next time you have a question, try asking your teacher, mother, friend, or, if that doesn’t work, Reddit.
Responding to concerns about how much water ChatGPT uses, an OpenAI spokesperson told Forbes, “AI can be energy-intensive and that’s why we are constantly working to improve efficiency. We carefully consider the best use of our computing power and support our partners’ efforts to achieve their sustainability goals.”
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