Genuine Question About Water Usage & AI
Published:Jan 2, 2026 11:39
•1 min read
•r/ArtificialInteligence
Analysis
The article presents a user's genuine confusion regarding the disproportionate focus on AI's water usage compared to the established water consumption of streaming services. The user questions the consistency of the criticism, suggesting potential fearmongering. The core issue is the perceived imbalance in public awareness and criticism of water usage across different data-intensive technologies.
Key Takeaways
- •The user highlights a perceived inconsistency in public awareness regarding water usage by AI versus streaming services.
- •The core concern is the lack of comparable scrutiny of streaming services' water consumption.
- •The user suspects potential fearmongering due to the perceived imbalance in attention.
Reference
“i keep seeing articles about how ai uses tons of water and how that’s a huge environmental issue...but like… don’t netflix, youtube, tiktok etc all rely on massive data centers too? and those have been running nonstop for years with autoplay, 4k, endless scrolling and yet i didn't even come across a single post or article about water usage in that context...i honestly don’t know much about this stuff, it just feels weird that ai gets so much backlash for water usage while streaming doesn’t really get mentioned in the same way..”