[passive]

Maybe I missed it in the article, but it's less:

"AI uses more water than other things"

and more:

"AI's water usage is being approved without proper planning, because of the arguably fake sense of urgency around it."

Other industries that use significant water have significant regulations already . AI has been desperately trying to avoid ANY regulation (unless it forces folk to use AI.)

I don't personally think water usage is the biggest issue with how AI is being rolled out, but it's one that is easier to engage the public on then copyright, or societal context collapse. :)

[Defletter]

I'm pretty convinced the only reason people care is because it's been memeified, and to be fair, the running gag of someone chugging a bottle of water before giving a lacklustre response to an easy question is pretty funny. But this sudden care for water consumption despite the public's general apathy towards it with regards to literally everything else (mining, livestock, textiles, energy generation, Coca Cola, etc), just seems manufactured.

[Aurornis]

Near 100% of the complaints I see online and in person about AI water usage are based on the idea that it’s consuming out of control amounts of water.

It’s frequently brought up as a reason not to use AI. The public perception right now is that doing anything with AI causes a lot of water to be “used” and that this is a very bad thing.