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Opinion

The AI Race Is Also a Race for Water

The AI Race Is Also a Race for Water
Racks of GPUs (graphics processing units) with a closed-loop liquid cooling system are seen inside an operational Microsoft data centre in Karawang, West Java, on Feb. 4, 2026. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
Mollie Engelhart
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Commentary

We are told that artificial intelligence lives in “the cloud,” as if it exists somewhere weightless and abstract. But the cloud is not a cloud. It is physical. It is buildings, often many of them, made of concrete and steel, filled with thousands of servers stacked in racks, running hot every second of the day. All that heat has to go somewhere.

Mollie Engelhart
Mollie Engelhart
Author
Mollie Engelhart, regenerative farmer and rancher at Sovereignty Ranch, is committed to food sovereignty, soil regeneration, and educating on homesteading and self-sufficiency. She is the author of “Debunked by Nature”: Debunk Everything You Thought You Knew About Food, Farming, and Freedom—a raw, riveting account of her journey from vegan chef and LA restaurateur to hands-in-the-dirt farmer, and how nature shattered her cultural programming.