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California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed bills requiring AI data centers to pay for local energy grid upgrades and disclose water usage, aiming to prevent utility costs from being passed to residents and manage environmental impacts.
The article examines and debunks exaggerated claims about AI's environmental impact, using data from the IEA to show that while AI consumes energy and water, its effects are often overstated and context-dependent.
An original analysis mapping estimated water consumption across 30 major AI and cloud data centers, highlighting environmental concerns of large-scale computing.
A University of Texas at Austin report warns that data centers could consume up to 9% of Texas's water by 2040, up from under 1% today, driven by AI and cloud computing growth.