The project
About
AIWaterUse is an independent research project. It answers one question as carefully as possible: how much water (and energy, and carbon) does AI actually use? In aggregate, and for you personally.
The site takes no position on whether you should use AI more or less. It shows estimated ranges, labels the scenario behind every figure, names a source for every coefficient, and lets you conclude. Critics of AI and AI companies will each find numbers here they like and numbers they don't. That is roughly the goal.
A sanity check we keep coming back to: a heavy developer's multi-month coding-agent usage (86 million tokens) works out to about five showers' worth of water at the Mid scenario. Honest numbers tend to be more interesting than either headline version.
No individual names are attached to this project; the methodology is the author. Errors, better sources, and disagreements are welcome at hello@aiwateruse.org.
Press
Cite as “AIWaterUse, an independent research project.” For methodology questions, every coefficient and source is public on the methodology page.
Your number
What does your AI actually use?
Pick your model, set your usage, get the number, with sources.