The AI water-use claims don’t make sense as something that sophisticated actors would promote, if they want AI to be stopped or regulated. It’s too easy to verify that they’re false. Maybe briefly as a throwing-stuff-at-the-wall strategy, but, the primary effect now, of claiming that AI uses too much water, is to discredit AI critics in the eyes of the sophisticated.
Which is why, if I was a PR firm trying to prevent AI from being paused or regulated, I would probably have some sock puppets posing as anti-AI activists, promoting the claim that AI uses too much water. I would also talk up the problems that AIs had two years ago that are fixed or on track to be fixed (sycophancy and hallucination). Anything and everything to steer AI critics away from existential risk, and towards the claims least able to hold up to scrutiny, and make AI’s opponents look like catastrophizing idiots.
Is there a PR firm currently doing this? I don’t know. The power of natural stupidity is not to be underestimated, and the falsehoods branch of anti-AI activisim shares many surface features with the falsehoods branch of environmentalist activism. But I think we can infer it’s likely, just from the shape of the incentive landscape.
The AI water-use claims don’t make sense as something that sophisticated actors would promote, if they want AI to be stopped or regulated. It’s too easy to verify that they’re false. Maybe briefly as a throwing-stuff-at-the-wall strategy, but, the primary effect now, of claiming that AI uses too much water, is to discredit AI critics in the eyes of the sophisticated.
Which is why, if I was a PR firm trying to prevent AI from being paused or regulated, I would probably have some sock puppets posing as anti-AI activists, promoting the claim that AI uses too much water. I would also talk up the problems that AIs had two years ago that are fixed or on track to be fixed (sycophancy and hallucination). Anything and everything to steer AI critics away from existential risk, and towards the claims least able to hold up to scrutiny, and make AI’s opponents look like catastrophizing idiots.
Is there a PR firm currently doing this? I don’t know. The power of natural stupidity is not to be underestimated, and the falsehoods branch of anti-AI activisim shares many surface features with the falsehoods branch of environmentalist activism. But I think we can infer it’s likely, just from the shape of the incentive landscape.
Bernie Sanders went along with water use as among the problems, so I think it’s plenty viral even absent enemy action.
(That video doesn’t show Sanders repeating the claim, it shows a child presenting the claim to him and him not shooting the kid down.)
Kid: “It’s wasting a lot of water.” Bernie: “Well, that’s one of the things. Yeah.”
Mayyybe he just didn’t want to discourage the kid? Here he mentions water under no pressure:
“Those calculations require huge datacenters which in turn require a massive amount of electricity and water.”