Client Claims AI Wastes Water? How to Respond
Last week in a Hangzhou cafe, a client asked if using AI for images wastes a lot of water, and I was stumped. I've been stuck here too—I always felt like using AI wasn't very eco-friendly, and I even held back from using it too much, afraid of being labeled "irresponsible."
AI Water Consumption Isn't as Crazy as You Think
Recently, a California water blog published a study showing AI's actual water consumption is much lower than the public believes. A designer I know, A-May, used to always get pushback on her AI proposals for being "not eco-friendly." Last week, she just dropped this research data into the project group, and the client went silent. Not everyone needs this tool, but if you also face these kinds of objections, this data is your backbone.
Replicating This Backbone Today
Replication cost: Money $0 + Time 5 minutes + Technical barrier: just being able to read the news + First step: click the research link on the California water blog and read the abstract. No coding required, it's just a regular webpage.
Advice by Stage
If you're just starting out, it's fine not to try this now; focus on getting the work done first, and set aside the eco-anxiety for a bit. If you have 1-2 clients, when a client brings up eco-objections, I'd suggest saving this study as a talking point. If you're scaling up, you can add the "AI actual water consumption is lower than expected" data to the sustainability page of your company intro, preemptively blocking the objections.