You’re thinking about AI and water wrong

Last month a journalist Published by Karen Howe A Twitter topic She admitted that there was a major error in her popular book Artificial intelligence empire. Howe had written that Google’s proposed data center in a town near Santiago, Chile, would require “more than a thousand times the amount of water consumed by the entire population” — a number that, thanks to a misunderstanding of unity, appears to have been exceeded by a magnitude of 1,000.

In the post, Howe thanked Andy Masley, president of Effective Altruism in Washington, D.C., for bringing the correction to her attention. Masley has spent the past few months questioning some of the popular numbers and rhetoric in popular media about water use and artificial intelligence in his subgroup. Masley’s main publication is entitled “The AI-based water issue is bogushas been linked in recent months by other writers with large followings, including Yglesias died and Noah Smith. (Howe said in her Twitter thread that she would work with her publisher to fix the errors; her publicist told me she was taking a leave of absence and was not available to chat with me about this story.)

When I contacted him to talk more about AI and water, Masley emphasized that he was not an expert, but “just a guy” interested in how the media treated the topic — and how it was shaping the opinions of people around him.

“I remember sometimes using ChatGPT at parties, and people would say, ‘Oh, that takes a lot of energy and water,’” he says. How do you use that?” “I’m a little surprised when people talk so bleakly about a little water.”

like Local and national opposition As the use of data centers increases, there are also concerns about their environmental impacts. Earlier this week, more than 230 groups green I sent a message to Congress, warning that artificial intelligence and data centers “threaten Americans’ economic, environmental, climate, and water security.”

The AI ​​industry is starting to fight back. In November, the co-chairs of the AI ​​Infrastructure Alliance, a new industry group, authored this report And an editorial For Fox News, which touched on environmental concerns. “Water use? Very minimal and mostly recycled, less than on golf courses in America,” they wrote. One of the op-ed’s authors, former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, is currently advocating for a data center project in the state that has paid Local refusal, including due to concerns about water use. Alliance It was also retweeted with approval Post by Masley on the impact of AI on energy prices. (Masley maintains a comprehensive report Disclaimer On his Substack he refutes claims that the industry pays him to share his opinions.)