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World Service,26 Jul 2025,9 mins

Does a single AI query use a bottle of water?

More or Less

Available for over a year

We are living through boom-times for Artificial Intelligence, with more and more of us using AI assistants like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Grok and Copilot to do basic research and writing tasks. But what is the environmental impact of these technologies? Many listeners have got in touch with More or Less to ask us to investigate various claims about the energy and water use of AI. One claim in particular has caught your attention - the idea that the equivalent of a small bottle of drinking water is consumed by computer processors every time you ask an AI a question, or get it to write a simple email. So, where does that claim come from, and is it true? Reporter: Paul Connolly Producer: Tom Colls Sound engineer: Donald McDonald Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Editor: Richard Vadon (Photo: Water spilling out of a bottle. Credit Yamada Taro/Getty Images)

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