World Pulse 24 USA

 September 4, 2026 — Concerns about the environmental impact of artificial intelligence are gaining renewed attention in the United States after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman discussed how much water modern AI systems use. During a recent interview on the Sources podcast with Alex Heath, Altman pushed back against claims that individual ChatGPT questions consume huge amounts of water. He offered a striking comparison: Altman said that roughly 38,000 ChatGPT queries use about as much water as producing a single almond in California. He also acknowledged that the figure was being recalled from memory and might not be exact.  What Did Sam Altman Actually Say? Altman's comments came amid growing discussion about the amount of water used by data centers that operate AI services. He argued that some popular descriptions of AI water consumption are based on older information and do not necessarily represent how modern data centers operate. Altman said modern large data centers can use water ...

 OpenAI has unveiled GPT-6 Astra, its latest advanced artificial intelligence model, marking a major new step in the company’s push toward more capable AI systems. The launch was announced on September 3, 2026, with OpenAI presenting Astra as a model designed to handle complex tasks, computer-based work, coding and professional workflows. Reuters reported that the initial rollout is focused on a limited group of enterprise customers, with wider access expected to follow. What Is GPT-6 Astra? GPT-6 Astra is being positioned as a major evolution of OpenAI’s AI technology. Rather than simply responding to individual prompts, the model is designed to handle longer and more complicated tasks. Reports about the launch highlight capabilities involving software development, research, professional documents and computer-use tasks. OpenAI has also described Astra as an important step toward what it calls the “AGI era,” although artificial general intelligence remains a debated concept and d...