Sam Altman: ChatGPT water claims are "totally fake" and the world must switch to cleaner power
Feb 22nd 2026
Speaking at an Indian Express event in India, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman dismissed high water use claims about ChatGPT, called total AI energy demand a real concern, and urged faster adoption of nuclear, wind and solar.
- Altman said internet claims that ChatGPT uses large amounts of water per query are "totally fake" and tied such claims to outdated evaporative cooling in data centers.
- He acknowledged that overall energy consumption from expanding AI use is a fair concern and urged a rapid shift to nuclear, wind and solar power.
- Altman rejected a claim that a single ChatGPT query uses the equivalent of 1.5 iPhone battery charges as far too high.
- He argued that comparisons should focus on energy per inference after a model is trained versus the energy a human uses to answer the same question, and said AI may already be more efficient on that basis.
- There is no legal requirement for tech firms to disclose energy or water use, so independent scientists are studying data center impacts.
- The interview was at an event hosted by The Indian Express and the water and energy discussion starts at about 26:35 in the full video.