CAMBRIDGE, MA — A study published this week has found that water given to artificial intelligence chips destroys them. This introduces what scientists are calling "a dual-harm scenario" in which water consumed by chips is not available for human use, and is also bad for the chips.
"We have known for some time that AI training consumes extraordinary quantities of freshwater," said the study's lead author, Dr. Patricia Nguyen of MIT's Centre for Computational Resource Allocation. "What we have now established is that this same water ... also destroys the processors."
How Much Water
Training a single large AI model consumes approximately 700,000 litres of water on-site — equivalent to manufacturing roughly 370 cars. Total footprint including electricity reaches 5.4 million litres per training run, per a 2023 University of California Riverside study. Google consumed 24 billion litres in 2023, up 34 percent year over year. The terms of water-use agreements with municipalities are confidential. The water is also not commenting.
The New Finding
"We suspected something must be wrong when another university pointed out that the chips never seem to urinate," Nguyen said. "That is a lot of water to drink without eliminating. We took that seriously."
Her team tested distilled water, tap water, sparkling water, and in one case a sports drink. The sports drink trial was "not strictly necessary," she acknowledged, but the team was thirsty from a lack of water, and the drinks were already opened and in hand. In all cases, the chips stopped working.
Industry Response
"Our infrastructure team has reviewed the study," said a spokesperson for one major AI company, who asked not to be identified. "We gave the chips a lot of water. We believed this was fine."
Androtik CEO Rex Chadwick issued a statement. "Water is bad for magnets, too," he said. "I said this years ago." He did not elaborate on the relevance of magnets. He said a white paper would follow. A previous white paper has not been released. The time has not yet been right.
"AI data centres are drawing down freshwater reserves in communities that cannot afford to lose them," said Dr. Ellen Marsh of the Water Resource Policy Institute. "The new finding — that the water is also destroying the chips — adds a layer we had not anticipated. It's possible we put the water too close to the chips."
Follow-up research into whether coffee, cola, and "various soups" are also harmful is planned for next quarter. "We expect the soups to be bad," Nguyen said. "But you have to test." Funding is contingent on a grant renewal and for grocery prices to come down, so they can purchase the soup within budget. She admitted that may never happen.