Artificial intelligence (AI) has enabled remarkable breakthroughs in numerous areas of critical importance, including tackling global challenges such as climate change. On the other hand, many AI models, especially large generative ones like GPT-4, are trained and deployed on energy-hungry servers in warehouse-scale datacenters, accelerating the datacenter energy consumption at an unprecedented rate.25 As a result, AI's carbon footprint has been undergoing scrutiny, driving the recent progress in AI carbon efficiency.24,31 However, AI's water footprint--many millions of liters of freshwater consumed for cooling the servers and for electricity generation--has largely remained under the radar and keeps escalating. If not properly addressed, AI's water footprint can potentially become a major roadblock to sustainability and create social conflicts, as freshwater resources suitable for human use are extremely limited and unevenly distributed.

The Trump administration has ordered firings and buyouts at the federal agency that operates water infrastructure in California, potentially jeopardizing the agency's ability to manage dams and deliver water, according to Central Valley water officials. The job cuts at the Bureau of Reclamation were ordered by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, according to two bureau employees with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly. The bureau, which employs about 1,000 people, is set to lose about 100 employees in California through terminations and buyouts, eliminating about 10% of its regional staff, one of the employees said. But larger workforce reductions are slated, and the bureau has been ordered to prepare plans to cut its staff by 40%, this person said. Those targeted first for dismissal have been employees in their first year, and others who have been at the agency the shortest.

Among the many topics discussed at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, artificial intelligence ((AI() was pervasive throughout the multi-day meeting of some of the most powerful business people and political leaders in the world. The head of Google, Sundar Pichai, even went as far as saying that it was more important to humanity than fire or electricity. That's a bold claim, but Pichar may end up being right. Three of the big problems that companies are using AI to help address are disease and medical errors, feeding a growing population and access to clean water. The top three killers in the U.S. are heart disease, cancer and… medical errors?

It's easy to take water for granted. Turn on the tap, and you'll receive clean, life-giving water (with some very notable exceptions). But for a myriad of reasons, ranging from our changing climate to aging infrastructure to growing demands for water, all aspects of the water cycle -- how it is collected, cleaned, distributed (and repeat) -- are overdue for a technological makeover. For one thing, the workforce behind our waterworks is aging, at least within the public water utility sector, which is composed of an astounding 50,000 individual systems. "Lots of senior engineers are 30 years into their job and are reaching retirement," says Will Maize, a water industry analyst with market research firm Bluefield Research.