{
  "$schema": "https://fp1.ai/data/schema/claims.json",
  "object": "claim_record",
  "version": "0.1",
  "updated": "2026-09-04",
  "note": "Schema plus one real checked record. Grades apply to a source as evidence for the specific claim, not to the source in general.",
  "assessment_vocabulary": [
    "supported",
    "contested",
    "context_required",
    "unsupported",
    "false"
  ],
  "fields": {
    "id": "Stable record identifier",
    "source": "Origin document, with a stable source identity",
    "locator": "Timestamp or offset within the source",
    "text": "The atomic assertion, as stated",
    "evidence": "Array of cited sources, each with a quality grade and an independence finding",
    "independent_source_count": "Distinct sources after collapsing restatements",
    "assessment": "One value from assessment_vocabulary",
    "reasoning": "Why the assessment, in prose",
    "falsifier": "The evidence that would change the assessment",
    "lenses": "Optional context, integrity and analysis annotations"
  },
  "records": [
    {
      "id": "FP1-EV-0001",
      "checked": "2026-09-04",
      "source": {
        "type": "widely_repeated_public_claim",
        "identity": "no single origin document"
      },
      "text": "A ChatGPT query uses about ten times the electricity of a Google search.",
      "provenance_chain": [
        {
          "date": "2009",
          "role": "denominator",
          "what": "Google publishes ~0.3 Wh per search (Urs Holzle). Never updated."
        },
        {
          "date": "2023-10",
          "role": "numerator",
          "what": "de Vries, Joule 7(10):2191-2194, estimates ~3 Wh per query.",
          "doi": "10.1016/j.joule.2023.09.004"
        },
        {
          "date": "2023-2024",
          "role": "restatement",
          "what": "Ratio carried into an EPRI figure, a Goldman Sachs report, IEA commentary and general press. Each cites a restatement, not a measurement."
        },
        {
          "date": "2025-02",
          "role": "independent_recalculation",
          "what": "Epoch AI puts a typical GPT-4o text query near 0.3 Wh, ~10x below the 2023 estimate."
        },
        {
          "date": "2025-06",
          "role": "operator_statement",
          "what": "OpenAI states an average query near 0.34 Wh. Self-reported, no methodology."
        },
        {
          "date": "2025-08",
          "role": "production_measurement",
          "what": "Google reports a median Gemini text prompt at 0.24 Wh from in-production telemetry including host CPU, idle capacity and cooling overhead.",
          "ref": "arXiv:2508.15734"
        }
      ],
      "evidence": [
        {
          "source": "Google, Measuring the environmental impact of delivering AI at Google Scale (arXiv 2508.15734)",
          "type": "primary",
          "independent": true,
          "grade": "B",
          "note": "not peer reviewed; measures a chatbot, not Search"
        },
        {
          "source": "de Vries, Joule 7(10), 2023",
          "type": "primary",
          "independent": true,
          "grade": "A",
          "note": "estimate, not measurement"
        },
        {
          "source": "Epoch AI recalculation, Feb 2025",
          "type": "secondary_analysis",
          "independent": true,
          "grade": "B"
        },
        {
          "source": "OpenAI statement, Jun 2025",
          "type": "self_reported",
          "independent": true,
          "grade": "C",
          "note": "no published methodology"
        },
        {
          "source": "Google 2009 blog figure for a search",
          "type": "primary",
          "independent": true,
          "grade": "withdrawn",
          "note": "superseded, never updated"
        },
        {
          "source": "EPRI figure, Goldman Sachs report, IEA commentary, general press",
          "type": "secondary",
          "independent": false,
          "grade": "excluded",
          "note": "restate the sources above"
        }
      ],
      "citation_count": "dozens",
      "independent_source_count": 3,
      "assessment": "unsupported",
      "assessment_qualifier": "as stated",
      "reasoning": "The ratio cannot currently be computed. The numerator has moved ~10x since 2023 and is now measured by two operators using different methods. The denominator has not been published since 2009, so no current figure for a Google search exists. A claim whose denominator is unmeasured is unsupported regardless of citation count.",
      "falsifier": "A current per-query figure for Google Search measured under the same boundary as the Gemini paper (accelerator, host CPU, provisioned idle capacity, data-centre overhead), published alongside a comparable LLM figure.",
      "scope_note": "Bears only on the ratio. Says nothing about whether aggregate AI energy demand is large or growing, which is a separate claim on separate evidence."
    }
  ]
}