How AI uses our drinking water - BBC World Service

1,062,574

views

23,061

likes

Mar 15

2025

Your brain loves stories in short bursts.

Research shows people remember information better when it is visual, emotional, and concise. So if this video taught you one useful thing in under 3 minutes, it already did its job.

More than a billion messages are sent to AI chatbots every day and each interaction uses water. Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3VyyriM There are concerns artificial intelligence is putting stress on drinking water sources. Here, we explain why AI uses water and how even more will be needed in the future. 00:00 Sam Altman's 1/15th of a teaspoon figure 01:04 How much water does AI use: study 01:36 Why does AI use water? 02:01 Why do servers get hot? 02:34 How does liquid cooling work? 03:29 Where have there been protests about AI’s water use? 03:43 How much electricity does AI require? 04:16 How is water used directly and indirectly for AI? 04:40 What are tech companies doing to limit water use? 05:26 Innovations to consume less water 06:00 What's the future for AI and water? Check out more videos explaining the world from the BBC World Service here 👉🏽 • Explaining the world ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽 / bbcworldservice Twitter 👉🏽 / bbcworldservice Facebook 👉🏽 / bbcworldservice BBC World Service website 👉🏽 https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio Thanks for watching and subscribing! #BBCWorldService #WorldService #ai #artificialintelligence #aiwater