Kevin O’Leary is not convinced that modern AI data centers are driving water scarcity in the way critics often claim. Speaking during a recent appearance on Glenn Beck’s radio show, the Canadian billionaire and “Shark Tank” investor argued that advances in cooling technology have significantly reduced water consumption, saying “those days are gone” and comparing today’s facilities to “a golf course” in terms of water use.Referring to his company’s planned data center project in Utah, O’Leary said the first phase of the development, with 1.4 gigawatts of power capacity, would be “no different than a golf course” when it comes to water consumption. “Because data centers, not just my project,” O’Leary said, “any new data center now is like a golf course.”O’Leary, whose company O’Leary Ventures is developing AI data centers in Utah and Canada, said concerns over water usage are based on older facilities rather than modern infrastructure.
Kevin O’Leary says newer data centers use less water
Speaking on the radio show, O’Leary said, “The new modern era data center does not require anywhere near the water that was used 15 years ago in Virginia, where data centers got a bad name because of how much water they consume.”Data centers use water directly for cooling servers and indirectly through the electricity required to power them. However, some technology companies have argued that newer cooling systems, including closed-loop technologies, have reduced water consumption compared with older facilities.Earlier this year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also rejected claims that AI services consume large amounts of water.“Water is totally fake,” Altman said, when asked about concerns over AI companies’ water use. “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,” he added.A previous Business Insider investigation found that some of the largest data center facilities in the US were permitted to use more water each day than nearly 49,000 Americans would typically consume.
Kevin O’Leary calls for AI data centers to generate their own power
O’Leary also argued that future data center projects should be responsible for building their own electricity infrastructure rather than relying entirely on existing power grids.“The new rule of engagement should be this — as part of the national solution is — if I’m going to bring a data center anywhere, I’ve got to bring my own power. I got to spend billions to build power, and then give some of it back to the grid, so we can stay competitive,” he said.Meanwhile, O’Leary is facing a defamation lawsuit over comments he made during multiple media appearances in which he accused some opponents of his Utah data center project of being backed by the Chinese Communist Party. Before the lawsuit was filed, O’Leary said on social media that he had no evidence that the project’s critics were funded by China.Jeffrey Neiman, an attorney representing O’Leary, previously told Business Insider in a statement that his client intends to “defend this lawsuit vigorously” and file counterclaims. Neiman also described the lawsuit as a “cash grab.”
