A new analysis of seven states housing roughly half of America's data centers finds that generating the electricity these facilities consume uses far more water than cooling their servers does. Across Virginia, Texas, California, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio and Arizona, data center power demand draws about 3.4 trillion gallons of freshwater a year—about 12 times the combined annual water use of Los Angeles, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. Most of that electricity comes from water-dependent power plants, and two-thirds of them sit in regions already facing significant water stress or drought.
ceres.org
· 2026-08-25
A Congressional Research Service report cited by the Library of Congress estimates US data centers consumed 17 billion gallons of water in 2023, about triple the 2014 level. Over 80% of that footprint comes indirectly from electricity generation needed to power the facilities, rather than from onsite cooling systems.
forgeeks.net
· 2026-08-25
Nutex Health, a for-profit hospital operator with 28 facilities across 12 states, told the SEC that an unauthorized third party accessed and stole data from its servers, some of which may be private or confidential. The company has hired forensic investigators, notified law enforcement, and activated its incident response plan, but has not yet determined whose data—patients, employees, or partners—was affected.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-08-25
Bankrupt Spirit Airlines accepted a $10 million bid from Google to acquire 34 years of company records, including invoices, flight operations details, Wi-Fi sales, and employee files, beating a $7.5 million offer from AI firm Mercor. The Association of Flight Attendants, representing 5,500 former Spirit crew members, has filed a court objection arguing the sale exposes sensitive worker data that employees never consented to having used for AI training, even though Google says customer information is excluded.
wired.com
· 2026-08-25
Global Energy Monitor's updated tracking shows gas-fired power capacity in development specifically for data centers reached over 189 gigawatts by mid-2026, up from 97 gigawatts at the end of 2025 and just 4 gigawatts in early 2024. The surge reflects tech companies building private 'behind-the-meter' gas plants to power AI data centers rather than waiting for grid connections.
wired.com
· 2026-08-25
Flock Safety's network of AI-powered surveillance cameras has expanded rapidly across US cities and towns, but communities from both political sides are now organizing against it. Critics cite privacy concerns, lack of oversight, and fears about how police and other agencies use the collected data.
wsj.com
· 2026-08-25
As sleep monitoring devices become more widespread and sleep-enhancement technology moves from treating disorders to optimizing rest, employers and institutions are gaining new tools to measure and potentially demand better sleep from workers. A 2016 Dutch Data Protection Authority ruling already found that companies tracking employees' sleep via wearable devices violated privacy law, since such data counts as sensitive health information and consent from employees can't be truly voluntary given workplace power imbalances.
nature.com
· 2026-08-25
Jim Cramer said on 'Mad Money' that rising political and community pushback over electricity and water use is slowing the unrestrained buildout of data centers, citing tighter demands from officials in Pennsylvania and Texas. He argued this won't kill the data center trade but will make smaller speculative developers and suppliers like GE Vernova, Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital and Seagate less attractive to investors at premium valuations.
cnbc.com
· 2026-08-24
Rising electricity demand from AI data centers is spurring investment in solid-state power transformers, which use semiconductor switching instead of the century-old copper-coil design of conventional transformers. Unlike traditional units, which are hand-built and face multi-year delivery backlogs, solid-state versions can be mass-produced using materials like silicon carbide, making them smaller, lighter, and modular. Tech companies building AI infrastructure are especially drawn to them because they suit the direct current power setups increasingly used to run dense racks of AI chips.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-08-24
In an interview with Michael Cohen, President Trump argued that towns rejecting data centers are making a mistake, claiming the facilities bring jobs and 'tremendous tax revenue.' His remarks come as data centers face bipartisan public backlash over energy use, water consumption, and local disruption.
futurism.com
· 2026-08-24
Reporting summarized by Futurism shows AI industry leaders responding to growing public frustration over AI products and data centers not by addressing underlying harms, but by launching messaging campaigns framing the backlash as a 'trust' problem. Mark Zuckerberg published a lengthy essay defending AI's promise and criticizing industry pessimists, even as Meta's own internal practices reportedly contradict his optimistic claims.
futurism.com
· 2026-08-24
A commentary describes how artificial intelligence systems can analyze existing movement and balance data to catch subtle physical changes before they become clinically obvious symptoms. This approach reframes AI as a preventive tool rather than just a diagnostic aid used after disease onset.
wsj.com
· 2026-08-24
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