As Gov. Gavin Newsom weighs whether to require data centers to disclose how much water they use, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says concerns over AI’s water use don’t hold “up to any scrutiny.”  On the Sources Podcast with Alex Heath released Tuesday, Altman said that it takes 38,000 ChatGPT queries to use as much water as producing a single almond in California. … The problem, experts say, is that it’s impossible to verify those numbers given what’s public about the secretive industry. … Regardless of whether it takes thousands of queries to match the water needed to produce a single almond in California (a number that varies substantially over time and space, according to a 2019 study), the Congressional Research Service says data centers are using more water than they used to. 

Other data center water use news:

• The Union Democrat (Sonora, Calif.): Tuolumne County supervisors reject data center pause, pursue new rules
• News From the States: Developers eye Native nations, tribal communities for new data center projects
• The Hill: Microsoft backing measure protecting consumers over data center water usage costs
• PBS: EPA proposal could leave the public in the dark on data center plans
• Bond Buyer: How data centers may impact water finance
• CalMatters (Sacramento, Calif.): Opinion: How California can do data centers differently and win back community trust