AI is destroying the planet—or so we've been told. This week on Chain of Thought, we tackle one of the most persistent and misleading narratives in the AI conversation.
Andy Masley, Director of Effective Altruism DC, joins host Conor Bronsdon to fact-check the absurd AI environmental claims you've heard at parties, in articles, and even in bestselling books. Andy recently went viral for discovering what he calls "the single most egregious math mistake" he's ever seen in a book—a data center water usage calculation in Karen Hao's NYT Bestseller, Empire of AI, that was off by a factor of 4,500.
In this conversation, Andy and Conor break down the myths around AI’s water and energy usage and explore:
The viral Empire of AI error and what it reveals about the broader debate
Why most AI water usage statistics are misleading or flat-out wrong
How one ChatGPT prompt represents just 1/150,000th of your daily emissions
Trade-offs around data center cooling + decision making
Why "tribal thinking" about AI is distorting environmental activism
Where AI might actually help the climate through deep learning optimization
If you've ever felt guilty about using AI tools, been cornered at a party about AI's environmental impact, or simply want to understand what the data actually says, this episode, and Andy’s deep dive articles, arm you with the facts.
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: The Party Guilt Problem
01:54 – Andy's Background and What Sparked This Work
03:50 – The 4,500x Error in Empire of AI
06:39 – Breaking Down the Math: Liters vs. Cubic Meters
10:39 – The Unintended Consequence: Air Cooling vs. Water Cooling
12:51 – Karen Hao's Response and What's Still Missing
19:08 – Why Environmentalists Should Focus Elsewhere
21:41 – The Danger of Tribal Thinking About AI
25:49 – What Is Effective Altruism (And Why People Attack It)
29:15 – EA, AI Risk, and P(doom)
34:31 – Why Misinformation Hurts Your Own Side
37:39 – Using ChatGPT Is Not Bad for the Environment
42:14 – The Party Rebuttal: Practical Comparisons
45:23 – Water Use Reality: 1/800,000th of Your Daily Footprint
48:27 – The Personal Carbon Footprint Distraction
53:38 – Data Centers: Efficiency vs. Whether to Build
55:13 – AI's Net Climate Impact: The Positive Case
59:34 – Deep Learning, Smart Grids, and Climate Optimization
1:03:45 – Final Thoughts
Key references
IEA Study: AI and climate change - https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/ai-and-climate-change#abstract
Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-025-00252-3
The Empire of AI Error: https://andymasley.substack.com/p/empire-of-ai-is-wildly-misleading
Using ChatGPT isn’t bad for the environment: https://andymasley.substack.com/p/a-short-summary-of-my-argument-that
https://andymasley.substack.com/p/a-cheat-sheet-for-conversations-about
Connect with Andy Masley:
Substack – https://andymasley.substack.com/
X (Twitter) – https://x.com/AndyMasley
Connect with Conor Bronsdon:
Substack – https://conorbronsdon.substack.com/
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbronsdon/
X (Twitter) – https://x.com/ConorBronsdon