AI data centers’ water use: Crisis or myth?
The Guardian recently profiled the “QuitGPT” movement, where people are opting out of AI tools as resistance against data centers’ perceived environmental costs, especially water consumption. Critics, including researcher Andy Masley, have debunked claims like statistics overstated by 1,000 times in Karen Hao’s book “Empire of AI,” which required a correction. Debate persists on the true scale of data centers’ water impact.