US heatwave raises alarms over AI data centre energy demands

It is easy to think of AI's costs as abstract until your air conditioner and a nearby data center are drawing from the same strained grid at the same time. A single large facility can burn through millions of gallons of water a day right when drought stressed regions can least afford it. The math on AI's footprint was always going to collide with the physical world eventually, and this summer that collision arrived early.