Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, addressed growing concerns about artificial intelligence’s environmental footprint during a recent event hosted by The Indian Express while attending a major AI summit in India.
Altman dismissed widely circulated claims about AI’s water consumption as “totally fake,” referencing online posts suggesting that a single ChatGPT query consumes as much as 17 gallons of water. He acknowledged that water use had once been an issue when data centers relied on evaporative cooling systems, but said those practices are no longer standard in many facilities. “This is completely untrue, totally insane, no connection to reality,” Altman said of the viral figures.
However, he conceded that concerns about AI’s overall energy usage are valid — not necessarily per individual query, but in aggregate as global AI adoption accelerates. According to Altman, the rapid growth of AI services underscores the need for a faster transition to cleaner energy sources, including nuclear, wind, and solar power.
There is currently no legal requirement for technology companies to publicly disclose detailed data on energy or water consumption, leaving independent researchers to estimate AI’s environmental impact. Meanwhile, some analysts have linked expanding data center operations to rising electricity prices in certain regions.
During the discussion, the interviewer cited a past conversation with Bill Gates, referencing claims that a single ChatGPT query could use the equivalent of 1.5 iPhone battery charges. Altman rejected that comparison outright, saying, “There’s no way it’s anything close to that much.”
He also criticized comparisons that measure the energy required to train large AI models against the energy a human uses to answer a single question. Altman argued that such comparisons are misleading, noting that human intelligence itself requires decades of development, nutrition, and the cumulative knowledge of billions of people over generations.
In his view, the more appropriate comparison is between the energy required for a trained AI model to respond to a query and the energy required for a human to do the same task. By that measure, Altman suggested AI may already be competitive — or even more efficient — on an energy basis.
The full interview, including the discussion on water and energy use, is available through The Indian Express event coverage, with the environmental segment beginning around the 26-minute mark.