You’re Thinking About AI and Water All Wrong

Last month, journalists Karen Hao posted a Twitter thread in which she admitted there was a major error in her blockbuster book Empire of AI. Hao wrote that a proposed Google data center in a city near Santiago, Chile, could require “more than a thousand times the amount of water consumed by the entire population” – a figure reduced by more than 1,000 due to a misunderstanding of a unit.

In the thread, Hao thanked Andy Masley, head of an effective philanthropy organization in Washington, DC, for bringing the reform to his attention. Masley has spent the past several months questioning some of the numbers and rhetoric common in popular media about water usage and AI on his Substack. Masley’s main post, titled “The AI ​​Water Issue Is Fake”, has been linked to in recent months by other writers with larger followings, including Matt Yglesias and Noah Smith. (Hao said in her Twitter thread that she would work with her publisher to correct the errors; her publicist told me she was taking time off and was not available to speak to me for this story.)

When I called him to talk more about AI and water, Masley emphasized that he’s not an expert, but “just a guy” who is interested in how the media is handling the topic — and how it’s shaping the opinions of those around him.

“I would sometimes say I use ChatGPT at parties, and people would say, ‘Oh, that uses a lot of energy and water. How can you use that?'” he says. “I was a little surprised when people were talking so seriously about a little water.”

As local and national opposition to data centers has grown, so have concerns about their environmental impacts. Earlier this week, more than 230 green groups sent a letter to Congress warning that AI and data centers are “endangering Americans’ economic, environmental, climate, and water security.”

The AI ​​industry has begun to retaliate. In November, the co-chairs of a new industry group, the AI ​​Infrastructure Coalition, wrote an op-ed for Fox News that touched on environmental concerns. “Water use? Minimal and often recycled – less than America’s golf courses,” he wrote. One of the op-ed’s authors, former Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, is currently advocating in favor of a data center project in the state, which has prompted local opposition, including concerns about water use. The coalition also approved and retweeted a post by Masley on the impact of AI on energy prices. (Masley has placed a detailed disclaimer on his Substack refuting allegations that he is being paid by the industry to share his opinions.)