Your AI Queries are Consuming a lot of Water. These SCU Researchers Want to Know how Much.
A new grant will facilitate the study of AI data centers’ impact on California water as more data centers pop up across the state.
Iris Stewart-Frey, professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences and an Ethics Center Faculty Scholar, and Irina Raicu, Ethics Center director, internet ethics, received a $50,000 grant to study how water use by AI data centers impacts water availability and distribution from the Next 10 Foundation, a nonprofit focused on the intersection of the economy, environment, and quality of life issues in the state of California.
“If you don’t understand both the positive and the negative aspects of a technology, you cannot be a competent developer or user of it,” Raicu says.
Iris Stewart-Frey, professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences and an Ethics Center Faculty Scholar, and Irina Raicu, Ethics Center director, internet ethics, featured in Santa Clara Magazine.