# How much water does AI consume?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/more-or-less-867746/how-much-water-does-ai-consume
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/more-or-less-867746/how-much-water-does-ai-consume.md
Podcast: [More or Less](https://stenobird.com/podcast/more-or-less-867746)
Published: 2026-03-28T06:00:00+00:00
Episode link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0n95zxd
Audio file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0n960j9.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/more-or-less-867746/episodes/how-much-water-does-ai-consume
Duration seconds: 539

## Resource

As Artificial Intelligence continues to expand rapidly, some people have raised concerns about its potential environmental impact - in particular its use of water, which is used to cool both data centres and the power generators that supply them with electricity. One recent book on AI contained the alarming prediction that AI could consume between 4 and 6 trillion litres a year by 2027. Could this eye-popping figure be right? If not, what is the correct figure, and is it a big number? The devil, as ever, is in the detail, and with the help of expert Alex de Vries-Gao, the More or Loss team has taken a deep dive to get to the truth about AI and water consumption. If you’ve seen a number in the news and you think More or Less should take a look, email the team on moreorless@bbc.co.uk Presenter: Charlotte McDonald Producer / Reporter: Nathan Gower Series Producer: Tom Colls Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: Dave O’Neil Editor: Richard Vadon

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/more-or-less-867746/episodes/how-much-water-does-ai-consume/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/more-or-less-867746/how-much-water-does-ai-consume.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.