Sam Altman says fears that AI data centers guzzle water are overblown — but hard to dispel
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said concerns about AI's water usages don't hold up.
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images Sam Altman said concerns about AI water use were overblown but hard to shake.
He said an average modern data center uses as much water as a large office building.
He also said ChatGPT queries use far less water than it takes to grow a single almond in California.
Sam Altman says concern about AI water usage is a "meme" that doesn't actually hold any water.
The OpenAI CEO was asked to respond to resistance to AI, including concerns about water consumption, on the premiere episode of the Sources podcast with Alex Heath, published Tuesday.
Altman said that while they have a reputation for being water guzzlers, modern data centers use about as much water as an office building.
"That has been a robust meme and difficult to disprove, but I don't think holds up to any scrutiny," he said.
A 2024 report from a state government commission in Virginia — a hot spot for data centers — found that while some facilities used significantly more water than others, most data centers used the same amount or less than an average large office building.
Water consumption has been a central concern in the backlash against data centers.
A Gallup report published in May found 71% of Americans said they opposed the construction of a data center in their area, with 70% saying they worried specifically about the environmental impact.
Half of the respondents cited the effect on resources, with 18% naming water specifically.
A Business Insider investigation published last year found data centers were contributing to the water crisis in the West, in part because of water-intensive evaporative cooling techniques.
The Data Center Coalition, an industry trade group, says data center developers use various cooling methods, including some closed-loop or waterless systems, and that they prioritize efficient water practices that account for local water availability.
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