Thirsty AI

Here's a new cover illustration for the University of California, Riverside's UCR Magazine on the 'Unquenchable Thirst of AI' and the alarming reliance on fresh water by Big Tech companies. The brief was to depict the large waste of fresh water used in cooling AI server systems and its environmental impact in particular. I presented a few first visuals, shown here, featuring a leaky AI server bucket, a data centre waterfall with the researcher Shaolei Ren, and water rushing down an AI drain. The drain idea was chosen and I expanded the concept to include the power stations, servers and environments that get impacted by the water waste. The illustration was created digitally with a drain/plughole created in Cinema 4d and composited with elements in Photoshop. Thanks to Jessica Weber for the enjoyable commission. See it on the main site here also.