Microsoft to use 6.4 billion liters of water for artificial intelligence in 2022

Microsoft And Google By publishing its environmental report, to Increased water consumption Due to the use of technology Artificial intelligence Have noted.

Microsoft in its latest environmental report 34% increase reported water consumption from 2021 to 2022, however, the Redmondi giant’s consumption is about 6.4 billion liters it is arrived.

Google also in its report 20% increase It has announced water consumption in the same period of time.

For comparison, earlier this year another report said that for education ChatGPT-3 About 700 thousand liters of water has been consumed The research also estimated that ChatGPT uses as much water as a 500 ml bottle to have a 25-50 question conversation with a user.

Data centers where AI computing runs require large cooling systems that prevent servers and other equipment from overheating. Additionally, AI computing can be energy-intensive, meaning that generating the electricity required for this operation can result in a lot of water consumption, especially when using power generation technologies such as thermoelectric power plants, which rely heavily on water for cooling. are.

Microsoft plans to reduce water consumption

In response to the report, Microsoft said it was “working on ways to make large systems more efficient, both in training and in application.” The tech giant will also continue to analyze the greenhouse gases emitted by its systems, increase the use of clean energy to power data centers, purchase renewable energy and invest in green initiatives to meet its environmental goals by 2030.

One of the studied approaches to reduce the energy required for artificial intelligence calculations. These efforts could make artificial intelligence more energy efficient by building better algorithms and hardware that indirectly reduce water consumption.