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This in-depth investigation uncovers the true water footprint of AI data centers: the bulk of water consumption occurs during electricity generation, not inside the data centers themselves. Indirect water use can be 10 to 24 times greater than direct use. Tech companies largely omit these figures, and residents and farmers in the arid U.S. Southwest are bearing the cost of the AI boom.
An article comparing AI's water footprint to animal agriculture, arguing that the latter is much more significant and that a misleading statistic about AI water use has gone viral.