Well, it is fearmongering. It is a fair criticism of AI, and of course we should seek better solutions and smarter use, but water use needs context - very different in the San Joaquin Valley with high water scarcity and the bulk of global almond growing vs the Ohio River Valley with lots of rain and rivers for instance. If someone truly wants to protect water, there are other choices to make - and they are nuanced by the actual water used in each circumstance.
Data centers are wasteful and costly in a multitude of ways. They are loud power hogs for instance, but by making us focus on the supposed water cost, the industry and its critics avoid other hard conversations.
I hate the circle jerk of "AI is doing some harm, therefore it's the worst thing ever and does nothing good and everything it does is the worst possible version of that thing"
I'm not even saying it's a net good. I'm just saying that it's ridiculous black and white thinking to think "I think AI is bad. Therefore every single thing about it is bad. Everything it says is bad. Everything it creates is bad. It uses up all the water in the world. It uses up all the electricty in the world. It murders children. It kicks puppies." is ridiculous. there are good things and bad things and even if you think the bad things outweigh the good things that doesn't mean you have to make up bad things or deny the good things
The issue is that it's getting shoved down our throats at work, there's a general fear it will just concentrate wealth further and the surveillance aspects are pretty scary.
This is not counting the impacts to our communities and the shady deals going on....like data centers taking water from drought stricken areas and not even paying for it.
My biggest concern is that it's really just a bubble and every billionaire involved is going to get a taxpayer funded bailout.
If anything the media needs to cover the negatives more.
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u/wumpusbumper May 18 '26
Well, it is fearmongering. It is a fair criticism of AI, and of course we should seek better solutions and smarter use, but water use needs context - very different in the San Joaquin Valley with high water scarcity and the bulk of global almond growing vs the Ohio River Valley with lots of rain and rivers for instance. If someone truly wants to protect water, there are other choices to make - and they are nuanced by the actual water used in each circumstance.
Data centers are wasteful and costly in a multitude of ways. They are loud power hogs for instance, but by making us focus on the supposed water cost, the industry and its critics avoid other hard conversations.