Greg Brockman has clarified misconceptions surrounding water use in AI data centers, specifically addressing the closed-loop cooling systems employed by facilities like OpenAI’s Stargate project in Abilene. Unlike traditional evaporative cooling towers that continuously consume fresh water, closed-loop systems recirculate the same water, akin to a sealed pool. This design means a site can hold significant water reserves while utilizing less new water on a daily basis, thereby highlighting the distinction between water withdrawal and water consumption. For instance, the initial filling of the cooling system at Abilene is approximately equivalent to two Olympic-sized swimming pools, yet its annual water use is projected to be similar to that of a medium-sized office building, underscoring the efficiency of this cooling method.

naval: Naval Ravikant is an investor and entrepreneur who often comments on technology, startups, and AI on social platforms and in interviews. He is relevant in this news because the quoted remark attributed to him frames the broader public debate about data centers and water use.
OpenAI: OpenAI is an artificial intelligence company that develops frontier models and the infrastructure to run them. In this story, it is cited as the source of an official explanation for Stargate’s cooling design, emphasizing closed-loop systems and the difference between water withdrawal and water consumption.
Greg Brockman: Greg Brockman is a co-founder and senior leader at OpenAI, known for speaking publicly about the company’s model training and infrastructure efforts. He is relevant here because he is the person explaining why common narratives about AI data center water use can be misleading when they ignore cooling-system design.

Stargate Context: OpenAI has presented Stargate’s Abilene site as using closed-loop cooling rather than traditional evaporative towers, positioning it as a more water-efficient design than the public often assumes.
Closed-Loop Cooling: Closed-loop cooling systems recirculate the same water through sealed pipes instead of continuously drawing in and discarding fresh water, which changes how water impact should be measured.
Withdrawal vs. Consumption: A data center can use a large amount of water internally without consuming that water in the same way evaporative cooling does, so water withdrawal and water consumption are not the same thing.