Microsoft, OpenAI AIs drain Goodyear water supply

A Microsoft data centre in Goodyear, Arizona, was found to be consuming huge amounts of the town's water supply to support its cloud computing and AI efforts.

Microsoft's 279-acre Goodyear data centre is diverting water away from local families, and is contributing to making an area already suffering from heat waves and water shortages would consume 56 million gallons of drinking water once its 3rd building in completed, according to The Atlantic. 

The figures would equate to approximately the amount 670 Goodyear families would consume in a single year, the report estimated.

A source told the The Atlantic that the facility had been specifically designed for use by Microsoft and OpenAI. The report also found that Microsoft had been redacting figures in city records on the grounds that its water consumption was 'proprietary' information.

Microsoft and OpenAI did not comment on the article.