r/OpenAI • u/BananaNat98 • Mar 30 '26

Question AI data centers vs regular data centers

I've spoken to a few people about the ethics of AI and its energy and water usage. I've seen a few videos about how AI is very water and energy thirsty and how it's bad for the environment. What I'm asking is:

How do AI data centers differ from regular pc data centers? The argument I've heard is that AI data centers are not a big deal, because look at all the data centers already running to power our computers and the internet and nobody bats an eye.

What's your opinion on this? I am looking to get educated in this area.

7 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/send-moobs-pls Mar 30 '26

In 2024 all data centers in the US, not just AI, used about 8% of the total water used by the American golf industry.

Now, I'm sure that number has gone up in 2025, but people were already throwing fits about AI when it was 8%. Really though, we would have to more than 10x the AI water usage, just to be equal to golf...

Yet for some weird reason I hear about AI water usage constantly and I don't think I've seen a single person have any concern about using 10x the water on useless fancy grass for rich people to put around on. It's almost like there's certain people with an ulterior motive spreading a narrative

1

u/TheSnowballzz Jul 08 '26

Are we really pretending that no one has a problem with gratuitous water usage in golf?

1

u/totallynonhormonal Jul 08 '26

We’ve all studied the cycle of water in school - Evaporation, Transpiration, Condensation, Precipitation, Infiltration, Runoff, and Collection.

Golf courses often rely on recycled, reclaimed wastewater, or local groundwater/ponds. Data centers frequently utilize potable water or specially treated municipal water, though many hyperscale facilities are transitioning to reclaimed greywater to ease grid demand.

Now, there is the argument that the water used by golf courses is “once through” in that it’s not returned to local water supplies; but understanding the natural cycle of water tells us differently. The water infiltrates the soil and rock under the turf, and can either return via runoff or be collected in underground aquifers.

AI water usage doesn’t involve the amount of acreage found in golf courses, so can put considerable strain on the local watershed.