61%
IsItCap Score
Truth Potential MeterModerately Credible
Moderately Credible
politifact.com
Mostly False: Sam Altman says growing a single almond equals 38,000 ChatGPT queries – PolitiFact
Sam Altman stated on September 1, 2026 in a podcast: “<strong>For every 38,000 ChatGPT queries, that is the same amount of water that is used in the production of a single almond in California.”</strong>
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tomshardware.com
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says 38,000 ChatGPT queries use as much water as the production of one almond — says data centers use no more water than an office building | Tom's Hardware
“<strong>For every 38,000 ChatGPT queries, that is the same amount of water that is used in the production of single almond in California.”</strong>
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calmatters.org
Fact check: Is Sam Altman right that almonds use more water than ChatGPT queries?
On the Sources Podcast with Alex Heath released Tuesday, Altman said that <strong>it takes 38,000 ChatGPT queries to use as much water as producing a single almond in California.</strong>
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explainx.ai
Altman: 1 Almond = 38,000 ChatGPT Queries? The Real Math | explainx.ai Blog | explainx.ai
Nobody objecting to AI's water use is arguing that a single ChatGPT query is thirsty — they're pointing at aggregate demand: billions of queries a day, plus training runs, plus the gigawatt-scale campuses that concentrate that demand into specific locations. 2. It ignores where the water is drawn from. Almond irrigation is spread across California's Central Valley agricultural water system — itself contested, and explicitly flagged by commenters in the original thread as a pre-existing scarcity problem, not a reason to add a second one.
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reddit.com
r/tomshardware on Reddit: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says 38,000 ChatGPT queries use as much water as the production of one almond
At that rate, <strong>38,000 ChatGPT queries would use roughly 3.2 gallons (12 liters) of water</strong>. If you use a broader estimate that also accounts for water consumed in producing the electricity powering the data centers, it could be closer to 12–13 ...
moneywise.com
Feeling guilty about ChatGPT's water use? Sam Altman says 38,000 queries is equal to one California almond
He stated the belief that there is widespread use of evaporative cooling in data centers is a misconception that has been “difficult to disprove,” claiming that, counter to common opinion, modern hyperscaler facilities actually only use “the equivalent amount of water as an office building.” Even more, Altman claimed that even tens of thousands of conversations with ChatGPT wouldn’t demand the amount of water required to grow a single California almond.
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