Sam Altman: 'AI Less Than 10 Years From Solving AI Driven Water Shortage'
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, believes artificial intelligence is only “a few thousand days” away from solving a pertinent crisis for humanity.
Since the AI explosion, critics have pointed out the significant water consumption of artificial intelligence data centers, with annual global water consumption projected to exceed 1 trillion gallons by 2027.
According to the World Wildlife Organization, “1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year.”
Fear not, though, the solution may be closer than you think.
During an OpenAI keynote presentation this Wednesday, Altman presented a solution to the ongoing water scarcity problem:
“At the rate that AI is progressing, it’s only a matter of time before we reach AGI. Once we’ve manifested this higher being of intelligence, we can simply ask it: ‘How do we get more water?’ and it will have the answer.”
In order to get to that point, however, OpenAI estimates it will need $180 billion from investors and the construction of 15 more AI super data centers, which are estimated to increase AI water consumption by 70,000%.
But Altman has other concerns regarding the issue of water scarcity:
“Although we can solve this water problem. It’s highly likely we will choose not to. We’re entering a bold new era of humanity, and we have to ask ourselves what kind of humans we want to be; do we want to continue this unhealthy dependence on water? Rather, I believe we should ascend to become virtual uploads to the OpenAI digital megaverse.”
The OpenAI CEO then communicated his belief that AI should first tackle more urgent matters:
“Right now, on this Earth, there are CEO’s like myself who only have a 1 billion dollar net worth. That simply should not be the case in the 20th century. How must I survive on a measly billion, when other CEO’s have hundreds of billions, if not trillions? These are the issues AI must solve.”
Whether or not AI will be capable of solving these salient issues is still a hotly debated topic in the AI community. Still, if it is to be seen, it likely won’t be for years. In the meantime, Altman has a plea for humanity:
“Please lower your water consumption, your electricity usage, your breathing. We must redirect these resources to AI in order to save the human race.”