Google says that a typical AI text router uses only 5 drops of water – experts say this is misleading

Amid fierce discussion on the environmental losses of artificial intelligence, I released a new Google Ticket This says that his Gemini AI is only the minimum water and energy for each text router. But experts say the technology giant claims are misleading.

Google estimates that the Mediterranean Gemini claim uses about five drops of water, or 0.26 milliliters, and about a lot of electricity such as watching the TV for less than nine seconds, about 0.24 watts (WH), which produces about 0.03 grams of carbon dioxide emissions.

Google estimates are less than previous research on intense water and energy centers that are subject to the expulsion of obstetric artificial intelligence. This is partly due to the improvements in the competence that the company has provided during the past year. But Google has left the main data points in its study, which leads to an incomplete understanding of the environmental impact of Gemini, the experts say freedom.

“They are only hiding important information,” says Choli Ren, Associate Professor of Electrical and Assembly at the University of California. “This really spreads the wrong message to the world.” He studied ran Water consumption and Air pollution It is associated with artificial intelligence, and is one of the authors of a paper mentioned by Google in her study of Gemini.

There is a large issue of experts who have been marked that Google overlooks the use of indirect water in its estimates. Her studies included water used by databases in cooling systems to prevent servers from high temperature. These cooling systems raised Fears For years on how databases are aggravated by water shortages in drought -prone areas. Now, attention turns into an amount You may need electricity data centers To accommodate new AI models. The increasing demand for electricity led to a series of new plans Build mystification and Nuclear power plantsWhich is also It consumes water in their cooling systems and To convert the turbines with steam. In reality, The majority of water consumed by the data center from using electricity – That is overlooked by Google in this study.

As a result, with the estimation of Google water, “You only see the ice tip,” says Alex de Friz Gao, the founder of the site. Classification specialist A doctoral candidate at the Universites Amsterdam Institute for Environmental Studies who studied energy demand for data centers used in Cryptoming and AI.

Google left another important scale when it comes to power consumption and pollution. The paper is participated onlyMarket“Carbon emissions scale, which takes into account the obligations offered by the company to support the growth of renewable energy on energy networks.

The most comprehensive approach will also be included.On the basis of the site“Carbon emissions scale, which looks forward to the effect of the data center anywhere in which it works by observing the current mix of clean and dirty energy for the local power network. Emissions on the site Usually From market emissions, and offer more insight into the company’s local environmental impact. “This is the wounds,” says Ren. Both REN and De VRIES-GO say that Google should have included the standard based on the site, after internationally recognized them. The criteria set by greenhouse gas protocol.

Google paper is cited the previous research he conducted Rang and De Fais Gao He argues that it can provide a more accurate representation of the environmental impact from other studies based on modeling that lacks the data of the first party. But Ren and De VRIES-GO say that Google is comparing from apples to Parliament. The previous work was based on the averages instead of the broker that Google uses, and the Ren Google is mistaken for not sharing the numbers (the number of words or symbols for text demands) for how they reach the broker. The company writes that it is based on its estimates on an average claim to prevent extremist values that use more energy unlimited from the results of deviation.

When it comes to calculating water consumption, Google says it is about 0.26 ml of water for each text wave is “less orders than previous estimates” that amounted to 50 ml in REN research. This is a misleading comparison, as Rin claims, again because the paper that has been considered into consideration the total indirect and indirect water consumption of the data center.

Google has not yet submitted its new paper to review the peer, although Mara Harris spokeswoman said in an email that she was open to do so in the future. The company refused to answer the record in the list of other questions from freedom. But the study and accompanying blogs say that Google wants to be more transparent about water consumption, energy use, and carbon emissions in Chatbot from artificial intelligence and provide more unified parameters of how to measure the environmental impact. The company claims that it goes beyond previous studies through the power of energy used by lethargy and infrastructure support in a data center, such as cooling systems.

“While we are proud of creating behind the gains of our competence so far, we are committed to continuing significant improvements in the coming years,” Amin Vahdat, VP/GM from AI and Prochangure for Google Cloud and Jeff Dean, the chief scientist at Google DeepMind Research, for example Blog.

Google claims that she greatly improved energy efficiency to demand the text of Gemini between May 2024 and May 2025, which achieved a decrease in electricity consumption 33X per route. The company says that the carbon fingerprint for an average match decreased by 44X during the same time period. These gains also explain why Google estimates now from studies conducted on previous years.

However, the real image is more severe. Efficiency gains still lead to more pollution and more resources used in general – unfortunate A phenomenon known as Javs Parmox. The so -called “amplification -based carbon emissions” grew by 11 percent in the past year and 51 percent since 2019 as the company continues to follow up on artificial intelligence, according to the latest. Sustainability report. (The report also notes that Google has begun to exclude certain groups of greenhouse gas emissions from its climatic goals this year, which it says is “peripheral” or outside the direct control of the company.)

“If you look at the total numbers that Google publishes, this is really bad,” says De Fais Gao. When it comes to the estimates that were released today on Gemini, “This does not tell the full story.”