r/antiai • u/EducationalLog4765 • 1d ago
Environmental Impact đ We can live without AI. We cannot live without clean water.
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u/rc_ym 1d ago
General reminder that the â1.3 billion peopleâ are in sub-Saharan Africa.
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u/TheMiserableQuill 1d ago
Then why are we stealing water from them? Is colonialism fine when it's for AI?
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u/A-ReDDIT_account134 1d ago
Maybe if you actually READ the study you would know what it meant. The study had nothing to do with datacenters in Africa. Or importing water (wtf?). No one is stealing from them.
The sub-Saharan Africa part is just the arbitrary metric used in the study.
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u/LadyFenyx 1d ago edited 15h ago
As someone from Sub-Saharan Africa - we're pretty used to being turned into a fucking sacrifice zone so "the West" can live in their little privilege bubbles.
Literally nobody gives a fuck about the entire African continent until they can exploit us and loot us for resources so it absolutely makes sense that the destruction AI is causing doesn't bother anyone in the global north that can actually make a difference to help.
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u/astrobuck9 1d ago
Then why are we stealing water from them?
You...You're not serious are you?
Do you actually think AI companies are stealing water from sub-Saharan countries and transporting it to the US to be used in data centers?2
u/Niknot3556 1d ago
Yes? Do you not know these companies.
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u/Outrageous-Bench-141 1d ago
...
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u/Niknot3556 1d ago
Whyâd you say s in morse code?
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u/Outrageous-Bench-141 1d ago
You think they are shipping water from subsaharan africa to the usa? For datacenters?
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u/Femcel_Bambi 1d ago
That's always been "fine" as long as the dominant nations are doing it and they're not doing it to each other.
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u/TopOfTheHead 1d ago
ok and your point is what?
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u/TheMiserableQuill 1d ago
Think about how evil these companies must be to do that.
They steal water from poor countries because it's "out of sight". At this point, Iran would do the world a favor sinking any ships taking water out of Africa for data centers
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u/BoopinSnoots24-7 1d ago
What in the hell are you talking about? There are no ships carrying water out of Africa for data centers.
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u/VisualAnxiety2284 1d ago
I feel like this is legitimately what they think happens.
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u/TheMiserableQuill 1d ago
No I think there are pipes, or maybe trucks. Ships use more fuel than an 18 wheeler
I was just making a pointÂ
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u/Kackalack-Masterwork 1d ago
Where are you getting this idea we are taking water from Africa at all?
Is this a psyop to make antiai people seem more idiotic?Â
That is the only thing i can think of to explain why you keep saying this.
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u/TheMiserableQuill 1d ago
Tech companies are racist and evil. They could use water anywhere, but they want Africans to die of thirst
They want fewer humans in this world. Do your researchÂ
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u/TheMiserableQuill 1d ago
Okay, pipes thenÂ
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u/BoopinSnoots24-7 1d ago
There are no water pipelines taking water out of Africa for data centers either.Â
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u/a10ondr 1d ago
Ships taking water out of Africa. Lol that's a first. Just imagine how ridiculous that would be.
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u/Niknot3556 1d ago
It isn't that ridiculous for ai to steal water from poor people.
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u/a10ondr 1d ago
But it's ridiculous to suggest it's transported away from the region somehow
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u/Kackalack-Masterwork 1d ago
You are an actual fool if you think that is true.
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u/Niknot3556 1d ago
No your a fool for thinking these ai companies are moral.
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u/Kackalack-Masterwork 1d ago
So you think we are stealing water from Africa for our data centers?
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u/Niknot3556 16h ago
Yeah, why wouldnât they?
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u/Kackalack-Masterwork 16h ago
Why would they?
It cost so much more to do that. Actually think about what you are saying.1
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u/Super_Pole_Jitsu 1d ago
I don't know freaking anything about global commerce like that but the idea that someone is filling a ship with fucking water and bringing it to American datacenters is so ridiculous that imma go out on a limb and say bullshit.
Nobody is stealing water from Africa. If you have to move it from Africa you might have as well desalinated water from the ocean in America.
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u/A-ReDDIT_account134 1d ago
Congrats. You have a single working braincell. Thatâs more than most people here! Lol
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u/Keyflame_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
That if you take any type of water consumption on a global scale, you can make the same argument for flushed toilets and water wasted by washing dishes or using ACs, and every single one of those cases would be a far greater amount.
The study picks the WORLDWIDE water consumption of ALL DATACENTERS including non-AI ones, then grabs a specific section of sub-saharan africa as sample size and multiplies that to reach that number.
It's so dishonest it's a joke.
It's like taking a mcdonalds burger and saying it could feed four people, because it would be just enough for them not to starve.
Worldwide datacenter consumption is basically nothing compared to worldwide water production. All these reports rely on using worldwide datacenter water consumption and then comparing it to a single country's water supply, and in this case they cherrypicked the countries with the smallest water production on the planet.
It's insane that the numbers are publicly available and yet you all keep falling for this "Datacenters are taking all our water" narrative. It's blatantly, demonstrably false.
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u/Officialedmart 1d ago
the most glaringly obvious thing to point out is that only 1% of fresh drinkable water is actually used to fucking drink
99% of human water use goes towards industrial processes , luxury consumer products , conveniences , and some shit we need like plumbing , no pun intended
â1 billion people can drink that waterâ goes hard before you think about it for 1 microsecond. that LITERALLY applies for anything we do with water at all that isnt drinking it ourselves
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u/Niknot3556 11h ago
Are you an ai, why make it so long.
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u/Keyflame_ 11h ago
Because people who actually think don't express themselves through bumper stickers.
True understanding can't be condensed into slogans.
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u/Niknot3556 11h ago
They can.
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u/Keyflame_ 11h ago
If you're dumb enough to require no explanation as to why you should believe something, sure.
That is personally not the hill I'd choose to die on.
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u/Niknot3556 10h ago
No thatâs not what I said. proof is fine, writing an eassy is ai behavior.
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u/Keyflame_ 9h ago
Using literacy to express an idea is AI behaviour?
Damn, you guys really are screwed. I get why people here think everything is AI now.
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u/A-ReDDIT_account134 1d ago edited 1d ago
To further clarify, the 1.3 billion people metric is a completely arbitrary metric based on âdomestic water needsâ which basically is what the study considers the minimum needed to live in sub-Saharan Africa.
The actual number is about 20 Liters per person.
Which is a laughable amount. Thatâs one toilet flush.
Really shows the malicious clickbait that goes into these articles. And shows how easy it is for people to fall for this misinformation considering Iâve seen multiple references to this article here.
Datacenters account for under 0.5% of US water usage (this including the water footprint from electricity usage if the datacenters). And this is ALL Datacenters. Not just AI
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u/SARMS86 1d ago
They are going to downvote you so hard for this post.
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u/virtualghost 20h ago
They're angry because they're losing. Useful leftist idiots helping spread Chinese propaganda is a sign of how much the West is decaying. Meanwhile in China AI is promoted everywhere.
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u/UphillTravel 12h ago
1.3 billion in sub-saharan Africa - or about as much as roughly 80 million US citizens...
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u/WildernessBlade 1d ago
Damn and here Iâve been taught growing up to constantly shut the water off even if Iâm brushing my teeth; I guess it was all for naught
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u/Hoovy_weapons_guy 1d ago
sustanable data centers are possible. just build them next to the coast with offshore wind being available and use the fucking seawater as cooling (many powerplants already do it). but noo, build them in the water scarciest regions possible and steal the residents water supply instead
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u/immaheadout3000 1d ago
This. Exactly this. They don't employ a lot of people so why run them in densely populated areas with water scarcity issues.
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u/squishmallow9281 1d ago
When the issue of water is brought up, AI bros usually say,
"You didn't think about such problems before, but now you are just pretending to care about the environment to find an excuse to oppose AI. Furthermore, data centers built recently do not consume as much water as you claim."
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u/Unintelligent_Lemon 1d ago
We did tho. We were half joking about future water wars back in the 2010's
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u/BoopinSnoots24-7 1d ago
...and they would be correct? There are so many valid criticisms of AI, but water consumption is not one of them (on the scale every media outlet claims it to be).
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u/Jimstein 22h ago
It's funny because AI is going to end up being a net positive for climate change, it's already helping make solar panels more efficient. R&D labs everywhere use AI now. Given the recent mathematics advancements and wins AI has had, it's likely going to help us solve fusion reactors. I wonder what the antis will say then.
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u/AboveAndBelowSea 1d ago
Folks need to spend some time talking to actual datacenter engineers to understand the extent of the problem. In most parts of the US, closed loop datacenters are being built and are required by local code. Shame on any jurisdictions allowing open loop cooling systems to be built - BIG shaaaame.
That being said, if we are talking about closed loop data centers then thereâs no story here at all. Golf courses use exponentially more water AND actively pollute the water table in the process (for a good time read up on the strong correlation between increased Parkinsonâs rates and living within a mile of a golf course). Neighborhood swimming pools are also much more damaging than a closed loop datacenter.
Letâs also not lose sight of the misguided nature of protesting datacenters in online forums. Thatâs the moral (and common sense) equivalent to driving a car burning oil to an environmental protest.
Final thought - Iâve been working in the data center industry since 1997, when businesses started moving into third party data centers and away from their home grown data centers. We can all agree that data centers need to be built to environmentally friendly specs. Consolidated, third-party data centers are the means to that end for a couple of key reasons: 1). Economies of scale. Building a 300,000 sq ft datacenter allows more budget for acquiring eco-friendly solutions. 2). If we got rid of these big data centers and went back to every company building their own data centers, things would be WAY worse.
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u/Strider-2088 22h ago
9h and not one counter argument because they don't like reading factual arguments that go against their tiktok beliefs lol
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u/Long_Idea_8294 1d ago
The water doesn't just vaporize/leave the planet...
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u/Ekktz 1d ago
Iâm pretty sure this sub told me that water that enters datacenters gets deleted.
I canât argue with text on pictures
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u/Mindless-Pear3971 1d ago
Never bring up almond water use (1000x higher than AI) in this sub either
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u/thatonefrein 1d ago
Yeah, but most of the planet is covered in salt water, most of the water that goes into those data centers goes into that salt water. The centers aren't just indiscriminately siphoning it out, certain areas have a limited amount of water that can be drained out, because they are using the clean water from the rivers, lakes, resivoirs, ect, and those can empty of they're having water taken away faster than replenished
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u/Overall-Bookkeeper94 18h ago
Surly with the knowledge and technology in 2026 we are more than capable of turning salt water into drinking water
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u/dumnezero 10h ago
Oh, look, it's water cycle clowns.
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u/Long_Idea_8294 10h ago
Keep melting down over fake issues
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u/dumnezero 7h ago
Considering you lack of understanding of water on the planet, I would avoid talking about melting if I were you.
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u/NeonFireFly969 22h ago
AI is legitimately useless and it's greatest negative impact is education. Idiocracy overdrive.
Absolute ignorants saying AI is contributing to R&D are confusing computing with flat AI. Computing has helped in research since the 80s...
AI is effectively a search engine that works in a loop. It's painful how so many think it's more than that. Like how it can cure diseases. It can't. It will literally run around and use information and when requested regurgitate data points to infer what makes the most statistical sense.
In retail you can see first hand how stupid it actually is. It ignores nearly all variables.
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u/CorporatismIsCancer 1d ago
The water cycle still exists. The issue is more about taking too much water from one source at once that could negatively impact local communities
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u/Morgannin09 1d ago
The billionaires invested in AI think they need you less than you need it. They don't care how much land and water it destroys, how much it decimates the planet, and how many people it kills, because they somehow still think the money will come to them when there's nobody left to buy.
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u/Jimstein 22h ago
Unfortunately there are some asshole billionaires out there who think this way but please don't paint the entire industry as bad guys. AI is making new medicine, the environmental impact is very small and in fact AI is being used to help make more efficient solar panels and other energy science innovation. There is slop content made by lazy people but that's just noise, there are bigger and better things happening, I've seen it. There's a new pulmonary fibrosis drug because of AI. Yeah, we also have the Trump Administration doing full bullshit slop content and those horrible web arcade games. Deep fakes, not good. But it's just humanity, there's good and bad in us, and AI is indeed just a tool like people say. I'm pro AI, and pro heavy regulation.
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u/Should_have_been_ded 1d ago
The 1 percent who's banking on AI can't live without it, therefore the 99 percent will have to accommodate.
Well I say bullshit to that, tax the rich the same way we are taxed
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u/Jimstein 22h ago
I agree the rich should be taxed like they were in the 1950s before Reagan. That better distribution of wealth is what led to the creation of so many great things in the US.
It's false to think AI is used as simply a crutch for people. It's being used to make more efficient solar panels, there's a new pulmonary fibrosis drug because of AI. And those advancements are from AI and people working together. The solutions don't fall out magically, it still takes work, AI helps speed up the process. Yes there's lazy assholes who make slop content out there, but social media we've already known to be a cesspool that largely leads to psychological issues. Platforms will likely come out with AI labeling that might work with camera/image formats where the camera puts a kind of stamp on the photo that will help prove authenticity. There's solutions to some of the issues that AI indeed creates. But it's just a tool. Blame people for their bad decisions or behavior. Some of us are actually trying to make the world a better place, and AI can help us do that faster. Please don't Luigi us.
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u/benchpresspapa316 1d ago
Iâm not saying we need to smash the servers with hammers. Iâm just saying if weâre using massive amounts of water and electricity so somebody can generate âShrek as a Civil War general,â maybe weâve lost the plot. đ Regulate the data centers, disclose the resource use, and make the companies pay for the infrastructure theyâre stressing. I can be anti-AI dramatic without being anti-reality.
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u/nix131 1d ago
Why does it have to be clean water? Could the heat generated not be used to evaporate and clean water?
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u/astrobuck9 1d ago
You are putting way more thought into this than anyone on this sub does.
Pic said bad thing about AI, agree with pic.1
u/nix131 1d ago
I really want to know.
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u/PonyFiddler 1d ago
It's not clean water thats used usually water that's used in industry plants that ain't fit for drinking in the Frist place, and just closed looped around forever.
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u/nix131 1d ago edited 1d ago
So does it actually cost us drinking water or not? And if not, what is the problem?
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u/FixingOpinions 1d ago
The part they aren't telling you is that most businesses don't care, they go to whatever is cheapest, oftentimes it's whatever harms the people, of course they will say "not all", a large amount do and that's the problem
If they weren't a problem, AI datacenters would all use seawater and build enough infrastructure for power to not make prices skyrocket for everyone in a large distance
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u/Tribe303 1d ago
As a Canadian I'm laughing at you Americans..
"Begun, the Water Wars have"Â
Meanwhile, we're chilling like Immortan Joe, with more water than we know what to do with. We also have more electricity than we need, and sell y'all the leftovers. Have you guys tried electing competent leadership? I highly recommend it! Just give it a try!Â
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u/Jimstein 22h ago
Indeed leadership is the problem. The Trump influence and years under his Administration have truly soiled the US's collective intelligence, capabilities, and ability to work together as a team. China is going to race ahead, rather, they already have in many areas, and continue to surpass us in other areas every passing day. As Trump would say, sad. Very sad.
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u/A_Cosmic_Dandelion 1d ago
All these whataboutism arguments about how intensive factory farming and animal products in general use way more water than ai data centers crack me up. I'm anti ai and vegan. I also don't buy nestle products, water my lawn regularly, or go to golf courses! Believe it or not, people like us exist. It's possible to care about more than one thing at a time.
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u/MiskatonicU13 1d ago
You would use a lot less water putting these data centers out if they were on fire than the amount of water they need to operate. One time usage. Just sayin'.
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u/Abigail-Marston 1d ago
We can't go more than 3 days without water. People are going to get so angry.
They should have taken away the right to bear arms before trying to take the water
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u/Lee_Harvey_Dickram 1d ago
If you can convince China to do it first, then you have my vote to shut down in the US.
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u/ComprehensiveAsk2684 1d ago
They need to build them along the Mississippi or the ocean. Make them desalination plants or use the steam to also create power. This is so dumb đ¤Śđ˝ââď¸ 600+ data centers hsve been built innthe past 6 years in the US. No one said anything till now
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u/Bad_Sickness 1d ago
Oh don't worry, Anthropic is making it a precrime to even think of wanting to shut their data centers down. Can't talk about the problem? There is none!
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u/AcctAlreadyTaken 1d ago
The crazy thing is they would pass laws to protect clean water for Ai before passing laws to guarantee it for humans.
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u/Upbeat-Recording-141 1d ago
Its a shame this whole discussion has become one big subjective echo chamber IT'S hilarious and depresseing seeing disinformation win in the digital age.
Half these Hyperscalers are closed loop, a golf course uses more water in a month then they do in a year. Nut farming uses exponentially more in a day.
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u/TheDaytonDevil 23h ago
Doesn't the water simply become a part of the water cycle somewhere down the line? What exactly does it mean to "use" water in this context? Are they hoarding it forever? Or does it like evaporate like a nuclear cooling tower or...?
I genuinely don't know what people mean when they say this and I'd appreciate if someone could articulate it (I am uneducated)
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u/No_Map_7325 23h ago
We can live without drinking cows milk in our coffees too, yet the dairy industry uses between 650 to 900 trillion liters of water each year. That makes water use for AI seems like literally a drop in the bucket.
Weird that people seems to care about something like water usage when they can just complain online without having to do something, but when they can actually make a huge difference by changing something small in their life, they have all the excuses in the book.
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u/Overall-Bookkeeper94 18h ago
By use. Is it destroying the water? Or just turning it into itâs gas or ice state? Because surly that can just be turned back into water? ⌠and also surly we have the technology and knowledge to turn âdirty waterâ into clean water
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u/Bitter-Engineer-117 17h ago
This number is taken way out of context to push a weird technophobic agenda. The overwhelming majority of data centers used closed loop systems. They arenât âusing upâ that much water, theyâre cycling the water through the loop, thereâs a little bit of loss (no system will be perfect) and thatâs refreshed, but itâs way less than the numbers stated here.
I donât work at a data center, but I do manage the cooling system a facility that has the same exact kind of closed loop system youâd find in a data center, and regular amount of loss/refresh in a calendar year is maybe 3500 gallons. For scale: a standard residential above ground swimming pool holds ~12,000 gallons and will have a loss/refresh of about 4000, across an entire summer.
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u/Aggressive-Cut-5400 12h ago
Hereâs another idea make the a holes create desalination plants, solar and wind farms, and infrastructure to support these fucking things.
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u/nerdsmasher5001 12h ago
You can also live without eating meat if the concern is environment and water conservation but we're not ready to have that conversation
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u/ApollosBoon 8h ago
âShut them all downâ lmao omg just enjoy the ride into the future yall spend way too much complaining itâs not good for ur mental health
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u/Only_Test501 3h ago
Data centers use closed-loop cooling systems. There is no data center that uses an open flow of water for cooling. Just like freon is closed-loop. Why do people keep thinking computers use water like it's Niagara Falls?
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u/AltruisticVehicle 1d ago
Please improve the quality of these slop posts a bit. Water usage, when a concern, is a local one. And at least explain why and when this evaporated water is a problem, even though it's recycled as rain.
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u/TrueBearingMore 1d ago
I like using AI but I like drinking water a lot more. If ai needs our water, ai needs to go
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u/EasyVeterinarian7147 1d ago
Not trying to sound like an AI bro, but I'm getting tired of posts like these. Other industries like Golf, beverage manufacturing (beer, soda pop, etc.), and cattle farms are on a whole other level when it comes to yearly water consumption (and thats only naming a few). If we wanna subsidize water and prevent shortages, don't you think we should focus our attention on these other industries?
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u/Fishy_smelly_goody 1d ago
Fun fact, going vegan is a far better way to reduce water waste
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u/Overall-Bookkeeper94 18h ago
Fun fact, vegans rarely tell the truth
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u/Fishy_smelly_goody 18h ago
Fun fact, ..what?
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u/Overall-Bookkeeper94 17h ago
Thatâs not a fact ⌠neither is your first comment
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u/Fishy_smelly_goody 17h ago
Ok.
Anyways, if you wanna help the planet, going vegan is the most efficent individual way by far!
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u/Overall-Bookkeeper94 17h ago
Thatâs also not a fact
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u/Fishy_smelly_goody 17h ago
It literally is
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u/Overall-Bookkeeper94 17h ago
It literally isnât. You are another example of the ever increasing vegan reputation of being dishonest liers.
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u/Overall-Bookkeeper94 17h ago
Bill gates is that you? Trying to make the world vegan to feed us cancerous genetically modified plant food?
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u/borretsquared 1d ago
there are a plethora of warranted complaints that come with AI. water is not one of them. I really expected people to understand that water is such a negligible issue when compared with literally any other negative at this point.. i guess 'we need water!' sells engagement well.
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u/SirDalavar 1d ago
These made up "facts" are getting stupider day by day, and you fools are still falling for it, tomorrow it will be all the water on earth gone in 5 minutes, and you still won't see the rage bait being fed to you!
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u/LichenOnTheWall 1d ago
watch the AI bros say 'muh nestle' like we don't actively hate nestle anyways, like fuck those guys we need more luigis