Topic summary
Water Usage
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Water footprint.
Artificial intelligence
The rate of AI development has been rapid in recent years, with data centers expected to account for 3.5 percent of the world's electricity use by 2030. This rapid development, in particular with regard to water usage, have sparked concern amongst the global community, particularly in areas already facing water scarcity. Whilst it is difficult to know exactly the statistics behind the water usage of AI, due to a lack of available statistics directly from the companies themselves, we can see the impact through examples such as the Great Salt Lake Basin, which is host to a number of data centers as a result of its cheap water, but which is experiencing new lows in water level year on year.