I found out 1 search on ChatGPT uses 10x the power of a Google search, now I can't stop thinking about it

Grant Singh · 2026-09-25T00:05:03.702648+00:00

Saw a stat from a researcher at UC Riverside last month saying one AI query can burn through about 10 times the electricity of a normal web search, and it caught me off guard because I use it all day for work stuff. Part of me thinks this is just the cost of new tech and it'll get more efficient like everything else does, but the other part wonders if we're all just adding hidden emissions every time we ask a chatbot to write an email. Is it fair to put this on regular users, or should the companies running these data centers be the ones footing the bill for cleaner power?

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I found out 1 search on ChatGPT uses 10x the power of a Google search, now I can't stop thinking about it | Climate Action - Librear