UK Government

National Drought Group meets to address nationally significant water shortfall

Interesting Engineering

How deleting emails and photos might help the UK fight drought

The Register

UK government suggests deleting old emails to curb water use

The Telegraph

Delete old emails to save water, say officials

Verge

UK government suggests deleting files to save water

Tom's Hardware

UK government inexplicably tells citizens to delete old emails and pictures to save water during national drought  'data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems'

Daily Mail

Forget hosepipe bans! Now officials say we should delete old EMAILS to save water

The Independent

Delete your old emails to save water during drought, Environment Agency tells Britons

Medium

When climate change dries out cloud computing

University of Oxford

Case Study: Water-guzzling data centres

Water Magazine

Elon Musk

Rishi Sunak

Kamala Harris

Bill Gates

Andrew Ng

Yoshua Bengio

Fei-Fei Li

Demis Hassabis

Melanie Mitchell

Sam Altman

Dario Amodei

Geoffrey Hinton

Yann LeCun

Gary Marcus

Max Tegmark

Connor Leahy

Eliezer Yudkowsky

Jaan Tallinn

Marc Andreessen

Eric Schmidt

Norbert Wiener

Arthur Clarke

Irving John Good

Claude Shannon

Hans Moravec

John Smart

There's a "wall of fear-mongering and doomerism" in the AI world right now.

"Worrying about AI today is like worrying about overpopulation on Mars."

Concerns that AI could pose a threat to humanity is "preposterously ridiculous."

Claiming AI poses an existential threat is "such an extreme" and risks "wip[ing] out some of its potential benefits."

"I'm more concerned about... the risks that are here and now [than the existential threat of AI]."

Current AI is "not anywhere close" to posing an existential threat but it could in the future.

AI is the "biggest existential threat" to humanity.

AGI's worst-case scenario would be "lights-out for all of us."

Powerful AI systems "taking control" pose an "existential threat."

AI has a "10 to 25 per cent" chance of destroying humanity.

"The most likely result of building a superhumanly smart AI... is that literally everyone on Earth will die."

Does AI Pose an Existential Threat to Humanity?

Charles III

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Nancy Pelosi

Xi Jinping

Justin Trudeau

Narendra Modi

Pope Francis

Janet Yellen

Emmanuel Macron

Olaf Scholz

Angela Merkel

Yuval Noah Harari

António Guterres

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Barack Obama

Kofi Annan

Michael Mann

James Inhofe

Greta Thunberg

David Attenborough

Giorgia Meloni

Patrick Michaels

Jane Goodall

Bjorn Lomborg

Freeman Dyson

Metaculus

"[C]limate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax."

"I believe in climate change caused by human beings. What I'm skeptical about is the glib notion that it means the end of the world as we know it."

"The clock is no longer just ticking, it is banging."

"There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change."

"The time for seeking global solutions [to climate change] is running out."

"The climate crisis is the existential threat. That's not hyperbole; it's a fact."

"[W]e are killing our planet."

Climate change is "above all, an existential crisis."

"Climate change is one of the greatest challenges mankind faces."

"If we don't take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon."

"Humanity is on thin ice — and that ice is melting fast."

"We haven't yet exceeded the bounds of viable human civilisation, but we're getting close."

Is Climate Change an Existential Threat?

Adam Scaife

Paulo Ceppi

Berkeley Earth

ECCC

Russell Vose

Gavin A. Schmidt

NOAA

Zeke Hausfather

Samantha Burgess

Ben Noll

James Hansen

Stephen Leahy

The Met Office

"There is a 7% chance that 2025 will rank as the warmest year on record."

"It's unlikely 2025 will be as hot as 2024."

"Years such as 2025 which aren't dominated by the warming influence of El Niño, should be cooler."

"2025 will be moderately cooler than 2024."

"It is likely that 2025 will not be as hot as recent years."

"Don't count 2025 out in the race for hottest year."

"The global mean temperature in 2025 is expected to surpass the earlier record set during the exceptionally strong 2014-2016 El Niño."

"The high January temperatures have increased the odds of 2025 being the warmest year on record."

Will 2025 Be the Hottest Year Ever Recorded?

The National Drought Group declared the current water shortfall situation in England a nationally significant incident on Monday, with five areas officially in drought and six more experiencing "prolonged dry weather," following the driest six months to July since 1976.

The National Drought Group declared the current water shortfall situation in England a nationally significant incident on Monday, with five areas officially in drought and six more experiencing "prolonged dry weather," following the driest six months to July since 1976.

The Environment Agency recommended that citizens delete old emails and photos as part of water conservation efforts, citing that data centers storing cloud-based files consume large amounts of water for their cooling systems to prevent servers from overheating.

The Environment Agency recommended that citizens delete old emails and photos as part of water conservation efforts, citing that data centers storing cloud-based files consume large amounts of water for their cooling systems to prevent servers from overheating.

According to Oxford University research, aone-megawatt data center can use approximately 26 million liters of water annually for traditional cooling systems, equivalent to the water usage of around 1,000 homes.

According to Oxford University research, aone-megawatt data center can use approximately 26 million liters of water annually for traditional cooling systems, equivalent to the water usage of around 1,000 homes.

Yorkshire Water has implemented a hosepipe ban for all customers, while Thames Water, South East Water and Southern Water have postcode-specific bans. Yorkshire Water reports a 10% reduction in domestic demand, resulting in a daily savings of up to 80 million liters.

Yorkshire Water has implemented a hosepipe ban for all customers, while Thames Water, South East Water and Southern Water have postcode-specific bans. Yorkshire Water reports a 10% reduction in domestic demand, resulting in a daily savings of up to 80 million liters.

Reservoirs across England are currently 67.7% full on average, below the typical 80.5% for the first week of August. The lowest reservoirs are Blithfield at 49.1% and Derwent Valley at 47.2%.

Reservoirs across England are currently 67.7% full on average, below the typical 80.5% for the first week of August. The lowest reservoirs are Blithfield at 49.1% and Derwent Valley at 47.2%.

The Met Office forecasts temperatures reaching the mid-30s Celsius in southern England this week, during the fourth heatwave of the summer. Largely settled conditions are expected through the second half of August, although there is potential for rain or thunderstorms.

The Met Office forecasts temperatures reaching the mid-30s Celsius in southern England this week, during the fourth heatwave of the summer. Largely settled conditions are expected through the second half of August, although there is potential for rain or thunderstorms.

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According to Oxford University research, a relatively small 1-megawatt data center can use approximately 26 million liters of water annually for traditional cooling systems, equivalent to the water usage of around 1,000 homes.

According to Oxford University research, a relatively small 1-megawatt data center can use approximately 26 million liters of water annually for traditional cooling systems, equivalent to the water usage of around 1,000 homes.

Reservoirs across England are currently 67.7% full on average, significantly below the typical 80.5% for the first week of August. The lowest reservoirs are Blithfield at 49.1% and Derwent Valley at 47.2%.

Reservoirs across England are currently 67.7% full on average, significantly below the typical 80.5% for the first week of August. The lowest reservoirs are Blithfield at 49.1% and Derwent Valley at 47.2%.

Data centers consume massive amounts of water for cooling, and every small action adds up when millions participate. During a time of severe climate stress, it's dystopian that government agencies in the U.K. must tell residents to take steps to lessen the burden on behemoth AI data facilities.

Data centers consume massive amounts of water for cooling, and every small action adds up when millions participate. During a time of severe climate stress, it's dystopian that government agencies in the U.K. must tell residents to take steps to lessen the burden on behemoth AI data facilities.

Telling people to delete emails is misguided theater that distracts from real solutions. Once data is stored, stored emails and photos generate minimal heat. Given that the U.K. has committed to turbocharging growth through AI, this type of messaging is unhelpful and misguided.

Telling people to delete emails is misguided theater that distracts from real solutions. Once data is stored, stored emails and photos generate minimal heat. Given that the U.K. has committed to turbocharging growth through AI, this type of messaging is unhelpful and misguided.

There's an 80% chance that before 2032, we will see an event precipitated by an AI malfunction that causes at least 100 deaths and/or at least $1 billion in 2021 U.S. dollars in economic damage, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

There's an 80% chance that before 2032, we will see an event precipitated by an AI malfunction that causes at least 100 deaths and/or at least $1 billion in 2021 U.S. dollars in economic damage, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

Metaculus2

AI incident causes $1bn damage before 2032

Artificial Intelligence

Joe Giddens/PA Images/Getty Images