I wanted to write more about this recent piece of art I love from a few weeks back.
Quili.ai, or, a town's ambitious initiative to save its water from AI.
Want a picture of a dog eating spaghetti? Ask Benji. 🧵
(h/t to Karen Hao, who I discovered this from)
Quilicura, Chile is an area with a lot of data centers. These massive air-conditioned buildings guzzle clean water in areas experiencing historical, long-term drought. Residents and activists are in prolonged battles over protecting their water.
Looking at what it takes to even uncover what these tech companies are doing in Chile is eye-opening.
Think: data center developers establishing shell companies to hide identities, making local authorities sign NDAs, lying about their water sources.
https://pulitzercenter.org/resource/how-we-investigated-backyard-ai-spain-chile-and-mexico
That's the landscape the residents of Quilicura are working in, trying to raise awareness and protect their water.
Cut to a few weeks ago, where a handful of residents invited people to send prompts to them, rather than to an AI chatbot. Behold: www.quili.ai
This work is a vivid reminder that the stakes of generative AI are very human: real communities are experiencing environmental and economic devastation at the hands of data center developers.
What I love most is that it's a reminder that to resist genAI is deeply human, too.
Not every question needs an instant answer. We can stay curious. We can reach out and help each other, not just locally, but in solidarity across languages and continents ✨
