On a lazy day during the school holidays, I decided to use AI (artificial intelligence) to turn a family photo into a Norman Rockwell painting. As you do when time is nothing and your mind wanders to frivoulous pursuits. I'd seen online other photos brought to life or transformed and I thought I'd give it a whirl.

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My 15-year-old daughter was not impressed. As well as declaring the end result "creepy", as we were turned into rosy-cheeked approximations of Rockwell's sentimental America, my daughter railed at me about the environmental cost of using AI.

Didn't I know how much water was needed to use something like ChatGPT? Ah, no. I'd never really considered it.

I'm not alone - American academics who have studied AI's water needs have suggested the issue has "flown under the radar" and been "kept a secret". Even with some minimal digging, you'll quickly see it's all pretty horrifying.

A study by the University of California, Riverside, says while the carbon emissions generated by the use of AI have grabbed the spotlight, the amount of water the technology needs to survive is being overlooked.

The 2023 study - called Making AI Less "Thirsty": Uncovering and Addressing the Secret Water Footprint of AI Models - says AI uses water for data centre cooling, electricity generation and for server manufacturing.

And its thirst for water is ever growing.

"The global AI demand is projected to account for 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic meters of water withdrawal in 2027, which is more than the total annual water withdrawal of... half of the United Kingdom," the study........

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