1.58M kL
upper estimate of GPT-4o's annual inference water use, more than the drinking water of 1.2 million people
What the chart shows
Answering queries with GPT-4o consumes an estimated 1.33 to 1.58 million kilolitres of water a year.
At the high end that is more than the annual drinking water of 1.2 million people (1.31 million kL), or about 630 Olympic swimming pools.
Key numbers
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| GPT-4o inference, upper estimate | 1,579,680 kL |
| GPT-4o inference, lower estimate | 1,334,991 kL |
| Annual drinking water, 1.2 million people | 1,314,000 kL |
| 500 Olympic pools | 1,250,000 kL |
How to read it
- AI Index estimates; water use depends heavily on data centre location, cooling method and season.
- 1 kilolitre = 1,000 litres; an Olympic swimming pool holds about 2,500 kL.
Source: AI Index, 2025, via the AI Index Report 2026 (Stanford HAI), figure 1.4.8: Annual water consumption: GPT-4o vs. real-world baselines. Chart and text by AI Adoption.
Numbers checked against the published data on 19 October 2026.
Download the data (CSV) · Cite this chart
Numbers checked against the published data on 19 October 2026.
Download the data (CSV) · Cite this chart
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