Microsoft, OpenAI data centre drains Goodyear water supply

A Microsoft data centre in Goodyear, Arizona, was found to be consuming huge amounts of the town's water supply to support its cloud computing and AI effort s. Microsoft's 279-acre Goodyear data centre is diverting water away from local families and contributing to making an area already suffering from heat waves and water shortages, a ccording to The Atlantic . The centre would consume approximately 56 million gallons of drinking water once its third building was completed, which would equate to approximately the amount 670 Goodyear families would consume in a single year, according to the report. A source told the The Atlantic that the facility had been specifically designed for use by Microsoft and OpenAI , and that Microsoft had been redacting figures in city records on the grounds that its water consumption was 'proprietary' information. The city of Goodyear told the Atlantic that Microsoft's water use is protected under industrial water rights and does not impact the city's water portfolio. Microsoft and OpenAI declined to comment on the article. Environmental impacts of artificial intelligence The environmental impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) may vary significantly. Many deep learning methods have significant carbon footprints and water usage. Source: Wikipedia 🔗 System 🤖 ChatGPT GPT-4 Microsoft Copilot Developer: Microsoft; OpenAI Country: USA Sector: Multiple Purpose: Generate text Technology: Machine learning Issue: Accountability; Environme nt; Transparency Investigations, assessments, audits 🧐 The Atlantic (2024). AI Is Taking Water From the Desert

Date it happened

2023-01-01

Organisation involved

Microsoft; OpenAI

Product, system or model

ChatGPT; GPT-4; Microsoft Copilot

This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.