r/Anticonsumption • u/Sad_Butterscotch7063 • 2d ago

Discussion Does anyone avoid using ChatGPT because of its water usage?

Hey, I recently came across something about how using ChatGPT, Blackbox AI and similar AI tools actually consumes a surprising amount of water (cooling data centers, I guess). Made me wonder, have people here stopped or reduced using it because of that?

Curious how others are thinking about it in terms of sustainability and personal impact.

5.2k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

88% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

45

u/MaLMaison115 2d ago

I never started because of its water/energy consumption- absolutely not worth it for the majority of frivolous applications. It’s wild how its usage has been framed as a positive addition to our lives and a fundamentally victimless issue…not the case, in my estimation.

4

u/p0verina 2d ago

This. My anxiety around our pollution is largely due to how normalized it’s becoming to rely on AI - from large corps in work to just daily use. The amount of energy that data centers require for AI really stresses me out