For the first time, Google has publicly shared exactly how much energy, water and carbon go into a single AI prompt for Gemini. At first glance, the numbers sound shockingly…small?
According to Google’s newly released data, the median text prompt to Gemini consumes a mere 0.24 watt-hours of electricity. That’s the same amount you’d use watching TV for less than nine seconds (about 0.03 grams of CO₂, and 0.26 milliliters of water, roughly five drops).
But, that’s now the whole story. In the same report, Google also showed dramatic efficiency gains: a 33x drop in energy consumption and a 44x reduction in carbon footprint per prompt over the past year, all while improving Gemini’s response quality. But despite those impressive numbers, the bigger picture is that AI is straining the environment in ways that can’t be ignored.
