Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI

by Karen Hao

As OpenAI trained GPT-4 in Iowa, the state was two years into a drought. The Associated Press later reported that during a single month of the model’s training, Microsoft’s data centers had consumed around 11.5 million gallons, or 6 percent, of the district’s water. GPT-4 had trained there for three months. (A Microsoft spokesperson said the company is working to increase its water efficiency by 40 percent above its 2022 baseline and to replenish more water than it consumes across its global operations by 2030, with a focus on the water-stressed regions where it works.) Arizona, too, faces a severe water crisis. In 2022, as Microsoft laid the groundwork for Phase 3, a study in Nature Climate Change found that the Southwestern US had been facing the worst drought it had seen in over a thousand years. That drought, combined with severe mismanagement, has drained the Colorado River, which Arizona and six other states rely on for fresh water, to dangerously low levels. Without drastic action, the river could cease to flow. The shortage compounds a power crisis, as climate change has slammed the region with relentless record-breaking temperatures and families have cranked up their air-conditioning. The region relies in part on hydropower from the Hoover Dam and water-cooled nuclear power plants. In other words, it needs water to produce more energy. In 2023, the Phoenix metro area hit multiple new heat records as well as the worst year for heat-related fatalities, which surged ...