Artificial intelligence (AI) datacentres have faced significant criticism in the US. The latest warning for them came from 89-year-old camera company Polaroid, which has launched a new advertising campaign highlighting concerns over the water consumption of data centres that power AI technologies.The company recently unveiled a billboard at Coney Island Beach in Brooklyn, New York, carrying the message: “Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up.” The billboard is part of Polaroid’s global marketing campaign, “the best of summer is analog,” which coincides with the launch of its new Go Generation 3 camera. In a post shared on Instagram, the company, elaborating on the campaign’s message, wrote, “There’ll come a day when the things we took for granted can never be taken again. Obviously, we’re being a bit cheeky with our line here, but still. Go take a swim. Go take a stroll. Go embrace the beautiful, simple, wild, analog stuff. That’s where the best of summer, and life, lives.”
Polaroid says it is not anti-digital
Polaroid’s latest campaign marks another effort by the company to encourage consumers to spend more time engaging with offline activities and less time connected to digital platforms. While the campaign challenges people’s relationship with technology, Polaroid said it is not opposed to digital products and services.In a statement to Business Insider, Polaroid’s creative director, Patricia Varella, said, “While our campaigns are provocative and challenge our relationship with technology, we’re not anti-digital. We know we have to live alongside it, but we’re deeply pro-human, and know what humanity gives us. And we know what we stand to lose if we don’t protect it. That’s a fight worth fighting.”The campaign adds to the broader discussion around the environmental impact of AI infrastructure, particularly the resources required to operate large-scale data centres.
Why AI data centres are under scrutiny
Data centres consume water both directly for cooling servers and indirectly through electricity generation. Concerns about their environmental footprint have increased as AI adoption continues to grow.A previous Business Insider investigation found that some of the largest data centre facilities in the US were permitted to use more water per day than nearly 49,000 Americans typically consume.Technology companies, however, argue that newer cooling technologies are helping reduce water usage. Earlier this year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman dismissed some of the claims surrounding AI’s water consumption.“Water is totally fake. It used to be true, we used to do evaporative cooling in data centers, but now that we don’t do that, you know, you see these like things on the internet where, ‘Don’t use ChatGPT, it’s 17 gallons of water for each query’ or whatever,” Altman said, when asked about concerns over AI companies’ water use. Meanwhile, Nvidia recently introduced a liquid-cooling system that it says can help data centres reduce water consumption while improving efficiency.