Sam Altman compares ChatGPT water use with almond production

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the water associated with roughly 38,000 ChatGPT queries is comparable to the amount used to produce a single almond in California.
The comparison is part of the broader debate around the environmental footprint of AI infrastructure, particularly the water and electricity required to operate large-scale data centers.
As AI usage continues to expand, efficiency improvements in computing, cooling and power infrastructure are becoming increasingly important to the economics and sustainability of the sector.