In 2025, an UN report revealed: "data centres consumed enough water to fill 1.8 million Olympic-sized pools. If the water were redirected to Africa, it would meet the basic domestic needs of more than 600 million people each year. By 2030, the UN report estimates that AI could use as much water as 1.3 billion people."

In 2020, AI basically didn't exist.

So, in 5 years its thirst became as large as that of 600 million people.

How much water will AI demand in 2040?

https://nation.africa/kenya/climate/ai-data-centres-consume-world-s-power-and-water-at-unprecedented-scale-5512862