According to CoinMeta, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that concerns regarding the water consumption of ChatGPT are exaggerated. He claimed that the water usage for 38,000 queries is equivalent to that required to produce one almond. California Governor Gavin Newsom is considering two bills that require data center operators to disclose more information about their water consumption. In a podcast with Alex Heath, Altman pointed out that the water consumption of modern large data centers is comparable to that of office buildings, criticizing arguments that are mainly based on outdated assumptions about evaporative cooling. Researchers say that it is difficult to compare water consumption due to the limited operational data released by OpenAI and the data center industry itself. According to a study, data centers in the United States consumed approximately 17 billion gallons of water in 2023, an increase from 5.6 billion gallons in 2014. California legislators are seeking greater transparency, and two bills, AB 2619 and AB 2469, have been passed and registered.