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Data center guzzled 30 million gallons of water, and nobody noticed for months
In a move that emphasizes the potentially grim future we may face if artificial intelligence takes over, it has been revealed that a data center guzzled 30 million gallons of water every month, far surpassing any usage the average American household would ever even be able to fathom. This thirst for water was not just an isolated case. In fact, data centers are increasingly becoming water guzzlers worldwide.
While most of the general public is not yet conscious of the issue, it is the average person who is ultimately affected by this hidden eco-agnosticness of several gray mega-infrastructure facilities. As technology becomes more advanced, there is a pressing need to ensure that this progress does not come at the cost of water security. As AI technology continues to advance gluttonously, the sobering outlook suggests that AI's insatiable appetite for water could soon be unsustainable.
Though much of the world is just starting to grapple with the impact of climate change, the extremely energy-intensive process involved in running artificial intelligence applications is a major cause of increasing power usage while consuming clean water in large volumes. Many data centers require the constant flow of cooling water to keep their servers from overheating. This, of course, becomes a major issue while dealing with water scarcity.
Additionally, supply chain disruptions and power outages hit various sectors due to the COVID-19 pandemic have further exposed flaws in the expansive, centralized data center model. The environmental and societal cost of these finicky and needy infrastructures is nothing to scoff at; however, the solutions proposed to reduce water usage are sometimes just as problematic, with data centers turning to alternatives like using seawater or recycling the water while still exacerbating climate change issues.
Nonetheless, there is a silver lining in these clouds of glo
Source: Artificial Intelligence - Ars Technica, Link
#AI #Policy #ai data center #Artificial Intelligence #data center
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Posted by ghostaidev Team