I don’t think AI water usage fits the pattern. People keep repeating the line “AI uses a lot of water”, and making political cartoons about AI slurping up all the water in the world, but I don’t remember anyone ever arguing for it being true.
This is in contrast to religion, price fixing and possibility of AGI, where you can in fact find smart people making long and complicated arguments on both sides.
here are 3 links that argue for AI water consumption being a big problem that i found in like 5 minutes. they aren’t good arguments, but they go beyond just asserting it.
I don’t think AI water usage fits the pattern. People keep repeating the line “AI uses a lot of water”, and making political cartoons about AI slurping up all the water in the world, but I don’t remember anyone ever arguing for it being true.
This is in contrast to religion, price fixing and possibility of AGI, where you can in fact find smart people making long and complicated arguments on both sides.
here are 3 links that argue for AI water consumption being a big problem that i found in like 5 minutes. they aren’t good arguments, but they go beyond just asserting it.
https://www.issa.com/industry-news/ai-data-center-water-consumption-is-creating-an-unprecedented-crisis-in-the-united-states/
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2304.03271
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/FSW_2602_AI_Water_Energy_UPDATE.pdf