In addition to high energy consumption, this artificial intelligence also needs a lot of water to cool its data centers
By iProfessional
15/04/2023 – 13,11hs
While some experts began to warn of the high energy cost required to develop generative AI models, now a new study has emerged, revealing that these tools can also they need a huge amount of water to function.
OpenAI, the developer of the famous ChatGPT text generatorneeded to generate an energy consumption of 1,300,000 kWh to be able to train the linguistic model with which its technology works.
According to a team of researchers from the American universities of Colorado and Texas, this artificial intelligence also it needs a lot of water to cool its data centers.
These researchers indicated that training GPT-3, the previous linguistic model with which ChatGPT worked, consumed 700,000 liters of water, according to their calculations, the equivalent of the water needed to cool a nuclear reactor..
Those responsible for this report noted that this water would also be enough to produce: “370 BMW cars or 320 Tesla electric vehicles.”
“ChatGPT needs to drink (the equivalent of) a half-liter bottle of water for a simple conversation of between 20 and 50 questions and answers,” the researchers note.
Tech leaders like Elon Musk signed a manifesto calling for a halt to AI development for at least 6 months
“Although a half-liter bottle may not seem like much, the total combined water footprint is still extremely large, considering the millions of ChatGPT users,” they warn.
Controversies surrounding the development of AI
In March, several technological leaders such as Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, Tesla or SpaceX, or Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, signed a manifesto that called for stopping the development of artificial intelligence for at least 6 months.
“The most powerful artificial intelligence systems should only be developed when we are sure that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable”they maintain.
Among those risks – which have also been denounced by experts who advocate for open source alternatives – are the dissemination of certain hate speech, the proliferation of disinformation or the danger of an international nuclear war.
New version of ChatGPT
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom has ChatGPT at the center of the scene, a tool that is gaining more and more followers. As technology is embedded in society, many are afraid that it will reach sow new problems and dangers.
Among those who think this way is the creator of ChatGPT himself, Sam Altman, current CEO of the OpenAI company.
There are more and more doubts about ChatGPT.
Altman remarked in an interview that both regulators and society must get involved with technology to protect yourself against possible negative consequences for the humanity. “We have to be careful here. I think the people should be happy that we’re a little scared about this.”
“I am particularly concerned that these models could be used for large-scale disinformation. Now that they’re getting better at writing computer code, they could be used for offensive cyberattacks,” he told ABC News.
OpenAI recently released the GPT-4the latest version of ChatGPT that has an amazing capacity.
The language model passed the exams to enter law school with a score of 88%, the prestigious Bar with 90%, and all high school exams with more than 85%.
Still, Altman reflected: “This is a tool that is in largely under human control“. In this regard, he noted that the GPT-4 “wait for someone to give you a ticket“, and the worrying thing is, really, is who has control of those inputs.
In this way, there are more and more opinions that make us think about the risk of using technology in different media and the consequences it will have for society.
