Does a single AI query use a bottle of water?

We are living through boom-times for Artificial Intelligence, with more and more of us using AI assistants like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Grok and Copilot to do basic research and writing tasks. But what is the environmental impact of these technologies?

Many listeners have got in touch with More or Less to ask us to investigate various claims about the energy and water use of AI.

One claim in particular has caught your attention - the idea that the equivalent of a small bottle of drinking water is consumed by computer processors every time you ask an AI a question, or get it to write a simple email. So, where does that claim come from, and is it true?

Reporter: Paul Connolly
Producer: Tom Colls
Sound engineer: Donald McDonald
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Editor: Richard Vadon

(Photo: Water spilling out of a bottle. Credit Yamada Taro/Getty Images)