As they race to capitalize on a craze for generative AI, leading tech developers including Microsoft, OpenAI and Google have acknowledged that growing demand for their AI tools carries hefty costs, from expensive semiconductors to an increase in water consumption.

But one thing Microsoft-backed OpenAI needed for its technology was plenty of water, pulled from the watershed of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers in central Iowa to cool a powerful supercomputer as it helped teach its AI systems how to mimic human writing.

As they race to capitalize on a craze for generative AI, leading tech developers including Microsoft, OpenAI and Google have acknowledged that growing demand for their AI tools carries hefty costs, from expensive semiconductors to an increase in water consumption.

But they’re often secretive about the specifics. Few people in Iowa knew about its status as a birthplace of OpenAI’s most advanced large language model, GPT-4, before a top Microsoft executive said in a speech it “was literally made next to cornfields west of Des Moines.”

  • @[email protected]
    2•1 year ago

    Presumably it evaporates and returns to the water cycle? I don’t know, but it’s not like growing tomatoes and exporting the water within them. That water is staying local. But that doesn’t mean it returns to where it’s needed, when it’s needed. They’re putting a strain on the local water supply (flow) not necessarily the long-term stock.

    In 2022, a document from the West Des Moines Water Works said it and the city government “will only consider future data center projects” from Microsoft if those projects can “demonstrate and implement technology to significantly reduce peak water usage from the current levels” to preserve the water supply for residential and other commercial needs.

    They’re not doing that for fun.

    • @ThekingoflordaMA
      1•1 year ago

      Interesting, thank you for sharing. I assume it get’s put back into the water cycle, and it would require power to turn it into drinking water again.