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                Why Using ChatGPT Is Not Bad for the Environment

   Adam Engst

   At his Substack newsletter The Weird Turn Pro, [1]Andy Masley presents
   a comprehensive argument that concerns about ChatGPT's environmental
   impact are misplaced:

     The question this post is trying to answer is 'Should I boycott
     ChatGPT or limit how much I use it for the sake of the climate?' and
     the answer is a resounding and conclusive 'No.'

     It's not bad for the environment if you or any number of people use
     [2]ChatGPT, [3]Gemini, [4]Claude, [5]Grok, or other [6]large
     language model (LLM) chatbots. You can use ChatGPT as much as you
     like without worrying that you're doing any harm to the planet.
     Worrying about your personal use of ChatGPT is wasted time that you
     could spend on the serious problems of climate change instead.

   I've received some questions and comments about the environmental
   impact of AI chatbots and imagebots, so I was pleased to find Masley's
   detailed analysis. If you're interested in the topic, the linked
   article is just the cheat sheet for a longer[7]9,000-word articleon the
   topic, and he has also[8]responded to criticismsof his posts.

   His conclusion is that the amount of energy and water consumed by a
   ChatGPT prompt, while real when multiplied across 1 billion prompts per
   day, isn't worth worrying about compared to other activities. One
   ChatGPT prompt is roughly equivalent to running a vacuum cleaner for 10
   seconds or a laptop for 3 minutes'or possibly[9]even ten times less.
   Masley calculates that, on a daily basis, the average American uses
   enough energy for 10,000 ChatGPT prompts and consumes enough water for
   24,000'61,000 prompts. When it comes to addressing climate change, we
   would be better served to focus on systemic change, or at least other
   personal lifestyle decisions.

   While there is no requirement for anyone to use a chatbot or AI answer
   engine, if you are exploring their capabilities, you can do so without
   worrying that they will add to your existing climate footprint.

References

   1. https://andymasley.substack.com/p/a-cheat-sheet-for-conversations-about
   2. https://chatgpt.com/
   3. https://gemini.google.com/app
   4. http://claude.ai/
   5. https://grok.com/
   6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model
   7. https://andymasley.substack.com/p/individual-ai-use-is-not-bad-for
   8. https://andymasley.substack.com/p/replies-to-criticisms-of-my-chatgpt
   9. https://epoch.ai/gradient-updates/how-much-energy-does-chatgpt-use

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