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.

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u/TemporaryAny6371 2d ago

Yeah, a lot of it is for people's entertainment.

I don't think reddit is the most offensive when it comes to ad revenue. There are social media platforms that shove ads right into our faces.

I agree though. Ads use a lot of network bandwidth. Sometimes it feels like more than half our cell phone data limits is used for ads.

Our world revolves around ads, it has too much power over us. Even if a lot of us ignore the ads, they still send it to us. Who knows, those ads may be the real reason for over consumption and water/energy usage.

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u/Lycent243 2d ago

I would say that overconsumption in general (consuming all the media, buying all the products) is definitely a massive reason for overconsumption of water and energy. And general overconsumption is absolutely built around ads telling us what to buy and why we will be a sad pathetic loser if we don't.