Follow one AI request out of your phone.
Type anything. It goes nowhere: this is a simulation of where a real one would go, and what it would use on the way.
What it used
Electricity
0 Wh
CO2
0 g
Water
0 mL
All three, side by side
| Request | Electricity (Wh) | Water (mL) | CO2 (g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question | 0.34 (0.24–1.86) | 0.864 (0.0288–10.2) | 0.161 (0.03–1.04) |
| Picture | 1.22 (0.63–2.9) | 3.1 (0.0756–15.9) | 0.577 (0.0788–1.62) |
| Short video | 90 (25.3–944) | 229 (3.04–5,173) | 42.6 (3.16–529) |
Per request, counted at the data centre (not your phone). Electricity: Google, OpenAI and MIT Technology Review (questions); MIT Technology Review and Hugging Face researchers (pictures, short videos). Water: on-site cooling plus water used at power plants. CO2: from a very clean grid to the world average (middle) and China's grid (Ember, Google). Real requests vary a lot, so every figure has a range. How we know