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The World Unpacked · July 17 · 1 hr 1 min

Data Centers Are Fine, Actually

Data centers may be the most controversial objects in America. They’re blamed for draining water reservoirs, stressing electrical grids, and driving up utility bills. Communities throughout the country are pushing back and seeking moratoria. But Andy Masley says this is all wrong—that data centers aren’t especially resource-hungry. Through his dogged research and insistence on putting numbers in context, Andy has emerged as the most influential debunker of data center myths. He joins Jon Bateman on The World Unpacked to compare ChatGPT prompts with microwaving a burrito and explain why a bestselling book overestimated AI’s water use by one thousand times. Host: Follow Jon on X: https://x.com/JonKBateman Guest: Andy Masley: https://x.com/AndyMasley?lang=en

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Data centers may be the most controversial objects in America. They’re blamed for draining water reservoirs, stressing electrical grids, and driving up utility bills.  Communities throughout the country are pushing back and seeking moratoria.

But Andy Masley says this is all wrong—that data centers aren’t especially resource-hungry. Through his dogged research and insistence on putting numbers in context, Andy has emerged as the most influential debunker of data center myths.

He joins Jon Bateman on The World Unpacked to compare ChatGPT prompts with microwaving a burrito and explain why a bestselling book overestimated AI’s water use by one thousand times.

Host: 

Follow Jon on X: https://x.com/JonKBateman 

Guest: 

Andy Masley: https://x.com/AndyMasley?lang=en 
 

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