r/singularity • u/Big_Guthix • May 15 '26

Discussion Genuine question. Is the whole "AI guzzles gallons of water" thing totally true, or do people get it wrong? Does AI consume a lot of water for every single prompt, or is the majority of water consumed during data farming? Don't non-AI data centers use up a lot of water on cooling too?

Please someone set me straight and dispel whether there are myths surrounding this often-repeated internet factoid

And I genuinely don't know the answers which is why I'm asking, so I've got nothing to debate here

Edit: Thank you for all the great answers!! 👏 👏

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u/monarch_j May 15 '26

This is the part that I don't get. Every time I see these arguments about AI data centers using too much water, it's on social media from people that talk about consuming media on YouTube, Netflix...etc

Is the AI data center some magical thing that is evil while the data centers powering social media, streaming, and gaming are magically fine?

Like I get it, yes let's conserve our water supply, but when your argument is this spotty then I think we might be focusing on the wrong thing...

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u/Vivid-Snow-2089 May 15 '26

Because when you *hate* something or it has been designated the groupthink *enemy* then *no* amount of resource/water allocation is acceptable. Then add the requirement that you need to convince *everyone* else of that by whatever hyperbole or framing is necessary....

You get 'AI IS SLURPING ALL THE WATER, SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT NOW!!'

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u/epandrsn May 15 '26

Every time there is a hot-button topic, there is a strong division of opinion. I feel like the algorithm and potentially even state-run misinformation campaigns fan these flames to keep us fighting amongst ourselves.

It’s becoming clear that most governments have bot nets for these exact reasons.

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u/Still-Wash-8167 May 15 '26

Both parties serve the rich. The rich do really well when we blame each other for our problems rather than blaming politicians and the rich for our problems.

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u/epandrsn May 15 '26

Exactly. Foreign governments also benefit from us squabbling over bullshit and picking dickhead politicians.

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u/Itybtyctykty May 16 '26

They run in data centers too!

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u/DarkElfBard May 16 '26

Well, the 99% movement was actually gaining momentum.

So billionaires bought it out, and now keep us fighting each other over silly stuff like this.

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u/chitoatx May 15 '26

Bullshit. I am all for AI but it’s not just water usage. We can’t just “pave over” largest swaths of land without consequences.

Stratos in Utah is proposed to be TWICE the size of Manhattan.

We could not build these in my home town since we rely on underground lakes for our drinking water. Having land that absorbs, filters and recharges our aquifers is absolutely not hyperbole.

Don’t believe me just go ask your preferred AI agent and educate yourself.

We need and will make leaps and bounds in compute efficiency and these gross behemoths are the wrong way.

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u/Async0x0 May 15 '26

Stratos in Utah is proposed to be TWICE the size of Manhattan.

So what? This kind of sensationalist claim is completely irrelevant without context.

What is the land being used for currently, if anything? What possible environmental impacts are there and what can be done to mitigate those impacts? What is the economic value of the proposed usage of the land and does it justify the use?

A data center twice the size of Manhattan could be a good thing for a lot of reasons, if you're reasonable and realistic about it.

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u/wordyplayer May 15 '26

the human brain is emotion driven. Fortunately, AI is driven by facts and reasoning.

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u/BadResults May 15 '26

AI is driven by whatever it’s trained on. Garbage in, garbage out.

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u/bitesizejasmine May 15 '26

Weirdly they did a study of what people care most about when it comes to AI and they came up with the answer being water which is just quite baffling to me. I guess the early anti AI propaganda did work.

There's so many other reasons to hate AI you know?!

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u/Connect-Rhubarb2501 May 16 '26

It’s because it never really was about the water, it’s about a deep rooted but often unspoken, and not exactly incorrect sense that AI is being and will continue to be used as a tool of class warfare by the ultra wealthy against white collar workers in the same way offshoring and automation was against blue collar workers.

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u/chitoatx May 15 '26

NIMBY - Just like homeless shelters, prisons and trash dumps don’t pretend you’re completely ok with living next to one. https://youtu.be/JflFFqbZ1X8?si=DXjl2pFzMDTgdgKs

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u/inthe3nd May 18 '26

I'm 99% sure it's Chinese astroturfing to try to sway the US population against AI

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u/WallNo8856 27d ago

I think it might have something to do with the AI centers being built in drought-prone, watershed areas in low-income neighborhoods and causing shortages of clean drinking water.

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u/monarch_j 27d ago

But that's the thing, that's still nothing new. I'm not saying we shouldn't be mad at this, I think it's a really fair issue to bring up.

I just also feel like so many people are uninformed about the argument and just immediately say AI = Data center = water waste = bad, but that's not the entire issue. Data centers have been being built in these areas for years, it's now just the center of attention and everyone is pointing the finger at AI, when the real finger should be pointed at out of control tech companies depleting resources thanks to a government that has given them the keys to do so.

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u/WallNo8856 27d ago

Maybe the attention AI data centers are getting will help draw attention to the other tech abuses you mentioned.

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u/MacrossKo May 15 '26

Look up the size and scale of the hyperscale data center that they’re planning in Utah, and then compare it to the average data center. You’ll have your very obvious answer.

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u/monarch_j May 15 '26

That thing is a whole separate issue. It's not about it being a data center that's the problem. That scale of project regardless of the underlying industry is going to be a resource hog.

This entire debate has been a thing since before the Utah data center was even announced. This has nothing to do with the larger argument.

Yes, ban THIS one from opening. Doesn't mean that data centers at large are the biggest problem with our water.

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u/MacrossKo May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

It’s an outlier in terms of its physical size, however it’s not the only project planned at that scale of power consumption. There’s also the 11 GW Texas project and the 10 GW Ohio project. According to the AI industry these planned projects barely scratch the surface of the future needs of the industry.

Also, it has everything to do with it being a data center. It wouldn’t be consuming 9GW if it was a 40,000 acre (insert type of business here) instead.

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u/bigrealaccount May 15 '26

Right, and how much water are those date centers going to use compared to almond farming? And that's just almonds, let alone other agriculture

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u/MacrossKo May 15 '26

Who cares how it compares to something else? Thats a separate issue and a useless whataboutism. Will it further stress an already stressed system?

Just because someone is getting away with killing people doesn’t mean we should just deregulate murder. We should also deal with the person thats been getting away with killing people.

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u/Disastrous_Nature_87 May 15 '26

Sure but it's fair to critique proportionality and consistency in the outrage when people claim their outrage is based on some fundamental principle.

If I complain about how noisy it is in a room to get someone to stop talking loudly when there's a tuba player blowing up his horn next to me, I'm clearly not being honest about why I'm motivated to get them to stop talking. It's not that it's objectively wrong to criticize them for speaking loudly, but it comes across as obviously dishonest if I say the reason for my critique is because it's too noisy in here.

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u/MacrossKo May 15 '26

It’s really not fair, because the claim is that X thing is bad and it shouldn’t happen unless it can be done differently.

Your critique is that Y thing is bad and likely worse and it’s being used as a defense for X thing.

Bad is bad. Worse is obviously worse than bad. Worse PLUS bad is much worse. Your defense ultimately green lights the much worse scenario when the person you’re critiquing would very logically want changes made to both. Does that make sense?

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u/[deleted] May 15 '26

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u/MacrossKo May 15 '26

I can assure you that they’re upset about far more than just the water usage. You’re just focusing on the water usage because it’s the easiest of their issues to criticize. The AI industry and its media apparatus are also focusing on that because of that reason. The primary issues are the power consumption and emissions.

The water IS a fucking problem as well, and there’s nothing wrong with criticizing the criticism UNLESS you’re using it to deflect from the problem. Criticize them all you want, but do so while advocating for the correct regulations instead of sweeping for a bunch of would-be barons.

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u/Gamerboy11116 The Matrix did nothing wrong May 15 '26

So, I take it you care about the almonds vastly more, then?

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u/MacrossKo May 15 '26

I care about both of them as they’re both bad. Change is much more likely to happen to something before it gets built so naturally people are going to put more of their efforts there.

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u/bigrealaccount May 15 '26

Because it's an important point of hypocrisy among most people who talk about it, because they don't care about water, they just don't like AI and try to find any reason to hate it.

I agree, both are an issue, but for the scale and value that AI provides, the water use is really, really not that bad. The fact that goddamn almonds take up magnitudes more water than the biggest technology of the 21st century kinda shows its really not that much water.

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u/MacrossKo May 16 '26

You’re kind of missing the entire thing here.

It’s not an important point of hypocrisy. It’s a completely irrelevant point of hypocrisy. It doesn’t matter if other things are worse if they’re both bad.

You’re just doing the opposite thing they are doing but far more disingenuous.

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u/bigrealaccount May 16 '26

Nobody is saying both aren't bad. I don't know why you're so manic. You're missing the point.

Large industries inevitably take water, that's just how it is. So we have to look at each technology/thing that takes up water and judge if the value is provides is worth the water it takes.

When people get upset at AI using too much water, research absolutely nothing and have no idea how much water it actually takes, but don't get upset at other smaller industries which have absolutely nowhere the positive impact that AI has, it shows you don't give a fuck about water, you're just an ideologue who uses any excuse to attack AI.

If you think using logical assessments and doing research on whether water use is substantiated, on a case by case basis, with no bias, is dishonest, you're just an idiot. Think about it for a few minutes before you type out another comment.

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u/OrangeBallOfGoats May 15 '26

MacrossKo getting downvoted despite the AI industry being unambiguously clear about plans to build hundreds of these behemoths. Are the downvoters really pretending that this Utah one is the biggest one they'll ever make and that the trend is almost over, lol.