{"id":520368,"date":"2026-07-01T18:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/520368\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T18:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:48:11","slug":"we-can-live-without-ai-but-can-we-live-without-clean-water-ai-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/520368\/","title":{"rendered":"We can live without AI, but can we live without clean water? | AI (artificial intelligence)"},"content":{"rendered":"

What are the benefits obtained from AI\u2019s massive use of electricity and water (\u2018We\u2019re up against forces that have all the money in the world\u2019: Erin Brockovich on her battle against AI datacentres, 29 June<\/a>)? Analysis shows that the top four uses of AI<\/a> are \u201ctherapy\/companionship\u201d, \u201ctechnical assistance and troubleshooting\u201d, \u201cfun and nonsense\u201d, and \u201cfan fiction and storytelling\u201d.<\/p>\n

AI use for therapy, and due to loneliness, appears not to reduce loneliness. AI provides affirmation, but at the expense of reducing the social skills needed to interact in the real world. Teachers report that students\u2019 use of AI reduces their capacity for critical thinking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To save us from climate devastation, like the deaths that the recent heatwave has caused, and the food shortages it is likely to cause, carbon emissions must be much lower. Electricity prices should vary according to the emissions the generation causes. Until clean renewable electricity has replaced fossil fuels, the \u201cpolluter pays\u201d principle should make all but the clearly vital uses of AI prohibitively expensive.
Tim Root
London<\/p>\n

Life cannot survive without water (including agriculture, drinking and sanitation). A recent editorial<\/a> in the British Medical Journal introduced me to the concept of water bankruptcy \u201cin which extraction persistently exceeds replenishment\u201d.<\/p>\n

The giant datacentres that are being built by billionaires for AI will extract water for cooling in immense quantities. At some sites it is possible that there is enough water to go around, but in many places agriculture, drinking and sanitation would be in competition with datacentres.<\/p>\n

Distant investors in AI are unlikely to care if local humans are hungry, thirsty and dirty. Regulations and legislation are needed now to protect all the stakeholders.
Woody Caan
Duxford, Cambridgeshire<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little doubt that the sudden explosion of datacentre construction presents a serious environmental and governmental challenge. It also should be noted that this is one of the detrimental effects of what is almost assuredly a bubble in AI investment. The sums of money being spent on this industry, which is out of proportion to realistic estimates of the eventual profits it can produce, are truly astronomical.<\/p>\n

Because of the unsustainable economics of the situation, it is likely that many datacentres will eventually be abandoned and become industrial wastelands, similar to the shells of \u201crust belt\u201d industries that still litter the US.
Joel Bolonick
Oakland, California, US<\/p>\n

Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please email<\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters<\/a> section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What are the benefits obtained from AI\u2019s massive use of electricity and water (\u2018We\u2019re up against forces that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,343,344,85,46,125],"class_list":["post-520368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}