GoKawiilBy Jay Lund
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Artificial intelligence (AI) will affect many economic and natural resource sectors as these new technologies develop and mature. We are in the early years of this process. Like most new things, AI has become an object of small and great hopes and fears – from hopes for saving and helping humans to fears for destroying human minds and civilizations. A common concern in the media is AI’s water use and its larger implications. While most AI concerns are speculative in these early days, AI water use is an example of our fears and hopes, as well as how some advocates (and researchers) can seize on public attention as an opportunity for advocacy (and funding).
Image generated by: OpenAI. ChatGPT (GPT-5.3).
Fears and Water
Early days of new technology bring wild fears and hopes as seen in media and public discourse. Americans, as historical leaders of new technologies, have seen these many times, from flying cars of the Jetsons and Star Wars, to vaccines, surveillance technologies and databases, sewers, drinking water chlorination, etc. Some hopes and fears prove illusory (e.g., flying cars), some mostly positive (e.g., vaccines, water chlorination and fluoridation), while others prove to be more mixed (e.g., surveillance technologies and databases, the internet, and automobiles).
The rise of artificial intelligence is built on factories of data and computation, so-called data centers. These large warehouses of networked computers on racks require substantial energy to operate and water for cooling, in addition to physical square footage on the landscape. These computation “factories” have large energy demands that can influence local electricity prices. Their water use is mostly for cooling needs from the heat produced from their electricity use.
California water discussions are sometimes driven by fears, at times with little scientific basis. Data center water use has become a subject of fear and concern. As shown below, California data center water use is mostly modest, but will be larger in some other states having more data center activity and less well developed water infrastructure.
Estimates of Data Center Water Use in California
Many popular discussions, articles, and media reports reflect concerns for water use from the artificial intelligence industry. Some complain that AI companies and facilities are not “transparent” about their use of energy, water, and other resources, and this is certainly true, likely due to the field’s competitiveness. But too many journalists, academics, and advocates wallow in speculation arising from this lack of explicit water use information.
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