Even the U.S. Government Says AI Requires Massive Amounts of Water

Generative AI is a power and water hungry beast. While its advocates swear it’ll change the world for the better, the tangible benefits today are less clear and the long term costs to both society and the environment may be enormous. Even the federal U.S. government knows this, according to a new report published Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan watchdog group that answers to Congress.

The GAO’s AI report’s goal is to succinctly explain to legislators what media outlets and researchers have been explaining for years: the infrastructure necessary to produce generative AI presents a massive strain on the planet.