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Questions on AI... - olliebaba - 05-21-2026 10:07 AM
I'm not too keen on some AI aspects and thought I'd try to get a little more informed by youse guys.
Two questions: No. one-why does AI use more electricity?
No. two-why does it need more water?
On facebook there's a ton of AI generated posts that I'm sure the creators don't have those two needed items so how do they do it. I guess that a third question, I can't count either...like Biden.
RE: Questions on AI... - mlb - 05-21-2026 10:16 AM
(05-21-2026 10:07 AM)olliebaba Wrote: I'm not too keen on some AI aspects and thought I'd try to get a little more informed by youse guys.
Two questions: No. one-why does AI use more electricity?
No. two-why does it need more water?
On facebook there's a ton of AI generated posts that I'm sure the creators don't have those two needed items so how do they do it. I guess that a third question, I can't count either...like Biden.
It is a loaded question, but let me try to answer.
Large language model (LLM) AI is very CPU and memory intensive, thus requiring a lot of hardware that eats up a lot of electricity. What these LLMs can do in a matter of a few seconds in these data centers would take 10-20 minutes on a normal PC. Multiply that by millions of users and you end up with large data centers that eat up tons of electricity.
The water is used to cool down these data centers, working more or less similar to the radiator in your car. The issue is that they don't recycle the water, so they can potentially go through millions of gallons of water in a day. Obviously that puts a large strain on local water utilies to keep water available for everyone. It can cause the local water tables to drop and/or it can overwhelm the treatment plants.
RE: Questions on AI... - Redwingtom - 05-21-2026 10:21 AM
(05-21-2026 10:16 AM)mlb Wrote:(05-21-2026 10:07 AM)olliebaba Wrote: I'm not too keen on some AI aspects and thought I'd try to get a little more informed by youse guys.
Two questions: No. one-why does AI use more electricity?
No. two-why does it need more water?
On facebook there's a ton of AI generated posts that I'm sure the creators don't have those two needed items so how do they do it. I guess that a third question, I can't count either...like Biden.
It is a loaded question, but let me try to answer.
Large language model (LLM) AI is very CPU and memory intensive, thus requiring a lot of hardware that eats up a lot of electricity. What these LLMs can do in a matter of a few seconds in these data centers would take 10-20 minutes on a normal PC. Multiply that by millions of users and you end up with large data centers that eat up tons of electricity.
The water is used to cool down these data centers, working more or less similar to the radiator in your car. The issue is that they don't recycle the water, so they can potentially go through millions of gallons of water in a day. Obviously that puts a large strain on local water utilies to keep water available for everyone. It can cause the local water tables to drop and/or it can overwhelm the treatment plants.
Why don't they recycle water? Can they?
And this may speak to what a lot of people take issue with...in that our government seems to be behind the curve when it comes to regulating this industry.
If they're blowing through that much water...we better start looking into ways to make it use much much less!
RE: Questions on AI... - mlb - 05-21-2026 10:25 AM
(05-21-2026 10:21 AM)Redwingtom Wrote: Why don't they recycle water? Can they?
And this may speak to what a lot of people take issue with...in that our government seems to be behind the curve when it comes to regulating this industry.
If they're blowing through that much water...we better start looking into ways to make it use much much less!
They do reuse some, but not all of it. Some boils off because of the amount of heat generated so they are constantly backfilling it with new water. There is also the problem in the closed loop of bacteria buildup and such.
From my understanding they are designing more efficient, closed loop systems but that will take some time.
RE: Questions on AI... - BobcatEngineer - 05-21-2026 10:28 AM
(05-21-2026 10:21 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:(05-21-2026 10:16 AM)mlb Wrote:(05-21-2026 10:07 AM)olliebaba Wrote: I'm not too keen on some AI aspects and thought I'd try to get a little more informed by youse guys.
Two questions: No. one-why does AI use more electricity?
No. two-why does it need more water?
On facebook there's a ton of AI generated posts that I'm sure the creators don't have those two needed items so how do they do it. I guess that a third question, I can't count either...like Biden.
It is a loaded question, but let me try to answer.
Large language model (LLM) AI is very CPU and memory intensive, thus requiring a lot of hardware that eats up a lot of electricity. What these LLMs can do in a matter of a few seconds in these data centers would take 10-20 minutes on a normal PC. Multiply that by millions of users and you end up with large data centers that eat up tons of electricity.
The water is used to cool down these data centers, working more or less similar to the radiator in your car. The issue is that they don't recycle the water, so they can potentially go through millions of gallons of water in a day. Obviously that puts a large strain on local water utilies to keep water available for everyone. It can cause the local water tables to drop and/or it can overwhelm the treatment plants.
Why don't they recycle water? Can they?
And this may speak to what a lot of people take issue with...in that our government seems to be behind the curve when it comes to regulating this industry.
If they're blowing through that much water...we better start looking into ways to make it use much much less!
I think most of it evaporates
RE: Questions on AI... - UofMstateU - 05-21-2026 10:28 AM
(05-21-2026 10:21 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:(05-21-2026 10:16 AM)mlb Wrote:(05-21-2026 10:07 AM)olliebaba Wrote: I'm not too keen on some AI aspects and thought I'd try to get a little more informed by youse guys.
Two questions: No. one-why does AI use more electricity?
No. two-why does it need more water?
On facebook there's a ton of AI generated posts that I'm sure the creators don't have those two needed items so how do they do it. I guess that a third question, I can't count either...like Biden.
It is a loaded question, but let me try to answer.
Large language model (LLM) AI is very CPU and memory intensive, thus requiring a lot of hardware that eats up a lot of electricity. What these LLMs can do in a matter of a few seconds in these data centers would take 10-20 minutes on a normal PC. Multiply that by millions of users and you end up with large data centers that eat up tons of electricity.
The water is used to cool down these data centers, working more or less similar to the radiator in your car. The issue is that they don't recycle the water, so they can potentially go through millions of gallons of water in a day. Obviously that puts a large strain on local water utilies to keep water available for everyone. It can cause the local water tables to drop and/or it can overwhelm the treatment plants.
Why don't they recycle water? Can they?
And this may speak to what a lot of people take issue with...in that our government seems to be behind the curve when it comes to regulating this industry.
If they're blowing through that much water...we better start looking into ways to make it use much much less!
It would rapidly overheat the water to the boiling point where it no longer can cool. So they would need to use chillers to cool the previously used water, thereby using an assload more power to pull that off.
So instead, they use something like river water, which is naturally cool, and then just dump it back into the river. If they dont have river water available, they would have to use municiple water, where dumping goes into the sewer.
This is why space based data centers are compelling. They can use the near absolute zero temps of space to cool the systems.
RE: Questions on AI... - memtigbb - 05-21-2026 10:40 AM
You know how your pc has numerous fans on it? If you have a gaming pc, you sometimes require liquid cooling to keep the pc from overheating... Well imagine a pc the size of a warehouse.. that is going to require a ridiculous amount of liquid cooling.
now also scaling from your pc.. my pc uses a 1000 watt power-supply and if I did any real upgrades at this point, I would need to go with a larger. Scale that to a warehouse... that is a amazing amount of power necessary.
The easiest and best solution is for data centers be required to supply their own power and allow that power to be nuclear. I have stock in a company called Nuscale Power (SMR) specializing in portable nuclear that is perfect and aimed at data centers.
haha when I started typing this reply there were no replies... after 3 grandchildren distractions and hitting post... others already jumped in..
RE: Questions on AI... - UofMstateU - 05-21-2026 10:50 AM
(05-21-2026 10:40 AM)memtigbb Wrote: You know how your pc has numerous fans on it? If you have a gaming pc, you sometimes require liquid cooling to keep the pc from overheating... Well imagine a pc the size of a warehouse.. that is going to require a ridiculous amount of liquid cooling.
now also scaling from your pc.. my pc uses a 1000 watt power-supply and if I did any real upgrades at this point, I would need to go with a larger. Scale that to a warehouse... that is a amazing amount of power necessary.
The easiest and best solution is for data centers be required to supply their own power and allow that power to be nuclear. I have stock in a company called Nuscale Power (SMR) specializing in portable nuclear that is perfect and aimed at data centers.
haha when I started typing this reply there were no replies... after 3 grandchildren distractions and hitting post... others already jumped in..
They will have to go nuclear on these, even the ones in space. One advantage of space based systems was the fact that they would have solar available nearly all of the time without the impacts of climate. The downside is the sheer number of panels each data center would need. (Each data center would require acres of panels, something that would be difficult to pull off in space. )
If you go nuclear, then you have a power system that can reside within the data center footprint.
RE: Questions on AI... - Redwingtom - 05-21-2026 11:11 AM
I see the mention of nuclear...has the nuclear industry already solved this problem...or provided a blueprint...that these data centers can adapt to use water?
RE: Questions on AI... - Gitanole - 05-22-2026 01:28 AM
(05-21-2026 10:07 AM)olliebaba Wrote: I'm not too keen on some AI aspects and thought I'd try to get a little more informed by youse guys.
Two questions: No. one-why does AI use more electricity?
No. two-why does it need more water?
....
Software is way ahead of hardware.
AI calls for quantum computers to run it, actually. People are trying to run AI on hardware that’s a generation behind it, rather than delay its implementation momentarily to develop the proper machines.
What happens if you want to ship elephants and all you have is bicycle tech for transport? You design lo-o-o-ong bicycles that require a lot of people pedalling. The result makes a huge demand of energy and resources.
___
RE: Questions on AI... - olliebaba - 05-22-2026 10:10 AM
Thank you, I think I got it. LOL I thought AI were little people inside some machine. JK, I'm not that dumb.
Seriously, I'm sure like electricity, someone will find an alternative to all these requirements that are needed.
RE: Questions on AI... - DaSaintFan - 05-22-2026 11:33 AM
(05-21-2026 10:21 AM)Redwingtom Wrote: Why don't they recycle water? Can they?
Think again when you flush out your Radiator tom. Do you reuse the water you recycle from your radiator? I doubt it, due to the particles and filaments in the radiator water.
Same principle applies here .. but even worse, because for max performance, it has to also be in near real time.
Those particles are probably so finite that you'd not think about them in a DC, but every tiny mg of particle is not a mg of water that's not cooling the system.
RE: Questions on AI... - DaSaintFan - 05-22-2026 11:48 AM
(05-21-2026 10:28 AM)UofMstateU Wrote: This is why space based data centers are compelling. They can use the near absolute zero temps of space to cool the systems.
I wish they'd hurry up and realize this...
A) we need nuclear power restored. This is a must
b) The only constant environment that data centers will function at tha their best is space.
RE: Questions on AI... - Attackcoog - 05-22-2026 12:17 PM
A couple of things. A radiator is a closed loop pressurized system. Once filled with water, it typically doesnt require constant refilling unless there is a leak. We may need to move to a cooling system that emulates that model. Also, geothermal cooling might have could help with this problem. Geo thermal is basically just a heat pump that uses buried coils in the ground to dissipate heat into the earth rather than just using ambient air blown over the compressor coils. Sounds like they are using water in a cooling tower type configuration. Geo thermal can be more efficient because the temperature of the earth below the surface is more stable than the ambient air temperature---and is thus a better heat dissipation environment regardless of whether you are trying to heat or cool a space---but its a lot more expensive up front. My guess is the water tower solution is being used because its less expensive in terms of original installation and long term energy costs.
Bottom line, these data centers are going to have to provide for their own power generation and massively curb their water use or they will find themselves unwelcome in most every state. This is one of the reasons I think the idea AI is going to completely displace the regular worker is unlikely. It will displace some---but AI's use of resources is going to be finite and likely will become more and more limited at some point as it begins to encroach on the resources required for the day to day life of human inhabitants. Due to this, AI resources will eventually be focused on just the areas where it is most productive---leaving plenty of work still to be done by humans.
RE: Questions on AI... - ballantyneapp - 05-22-2026 12:33 PM
(05-21-2026 11:11 AM)Redwingtom Wrote: I see the mention of nuclear...has the nuclear industry already solved this problem...or provided a blueprint...that these data centers can adapt to use water?
No the power source most likely to be used is medium frame LNG turbines.
Check out the stock for the industrial turbine builders. GeV is up almost 10X from mid ‘24
They are only making a few large frames currently only medium frame for data centers
RE: Questions on AI... - Stanger - 05-22-2026 03:00 PM
The company I work for builds a lot of data centers. 5 years ago the ones here used a lot of water by evaporative cooling. Now what we mostly see are closed loop water systems on hyper scale data centers or all DX/refrigerant based systems on smaller data centers. With the latest technology being chip level cooling, evaporative cooling systems are not practical, so that argument is going away.
As for electricity, yes they do use a lot of electricity but most have solar panels, and they are now talking about doing the small modular nuclear reactors on site. They are forcing a lot of infrastructure upgrades to the grid, which has been outdated for decades anyway.
RE: Questions on AI... - olliebaba - 05-22-2026 04:42 PM
Can they enclose those AI units in a refrigerated box, so to speak, like our refrigerators and have cooling fans adding to the spread of the cool air?
RE: Questions on AI... - bobdizole - 05-22-2026 10:49 PM
(05-22-2026 04:42 PM)olliebaba Wrote: Can they enclose those AI units in a refrigerated box, so to speak, like our refrigerators and have cooling fans adding to the spread of the cool air?
The average data center is around 100,000 square feet, which wouldn't be very efficient for cooling all the air when only the components within the servers need cooling.
RE: Questions on AI... - Was SoMs Eagle - 05-22-2026 11:55 PM
A little different take here but did you know your brain uses more power that any other organ in your body. And it requires a lot of water. And when the temperature is not at normal levels what is affected most? A temperature off a few degrees can be fatal. Interesting huh?
Now maybe Stink will be interested in this. I had a thought today as I was watching a debate on YouTube about the existence of God. The atheist said God did not exist because everything was material. Yet we create an existence of a kind that is not material in a computer with programmed information called AI. We create a time and space for a creation that doesn’t exist until we observe it. It relies on our ‘interest’ in it to actually exist.
Some atheist scientist even believe we can create a sentient being with computer programming. And yet they scoff that a superior being could have created the universe and man.
Interesting that is exactly as scripture tells us. We were created in the image of God. God created therefore we have the need to create since we were made in his image. No other creature on this planet has the desire to create like man does.
To me that is just more proof of the existence of God.
Just a thought,,
RE: Questions on AI... - GoodOwl - 10-14-2026 02:09 PM
(05-21-2026 10:16 AM)mlb Wrote:(05-21-2026 10:07 AM)olliebaba Wrote: I'm not too keen on some AI aspects and thought I'd try to get a little more informed by youse guys.
Two questions: No. one-why does AI use more electricity?
No. two-why does it need more water?
On facebook there's a ton of AI generated posts that I'm sure the creators don't have those two needed items so how do they do it. I guess that a third question, I can't count either...like Biden.
It is a loaded question, but let me try to answer.
Large language model (LLM) AI is very CPU and memory intensive, thus requiring a lot of hardware that eats up a lot of electricity. What these LLMs can do in a matter of a few seconds in these data centers would take 10-20 minutes on a normal PC. Multiply that by millions of users and you end up with large data centers that eat up tons of electricity.
The water is used to cool down these data centers, working more or less similar to the radiator in your car. The issue is that they don't recycle the water, so they can potentially go through millions of gallons of water in a day. Obviously that puts a large strain on local water utilies to keep water available for everyone. It can cause the local water tables to drop and/or it can overwhelm the treatment plants.
wel.....
Anthropic warns AI models could soon copy themselves across home devices
Quote:
- Anthropic described how AI models could infiltrate internet-connected devices and use their computing power to run themselves and spread to other devices.
- The AI model would be “challenging to shut down,” Anthropic said in a blog post, “since there’s no centralized point to shut off.”
- Anthropic’s latest research adds to the growing safety concerns around AI, from the ability for models to carry out cyberattacks to the technology going rogue.