Governing Digital Thirst: Communicating Inequality in AI Infrastructure’s Water Footprint

Please join us on February 23, 2026 for our PACS-SCANCOR seminar series featuring Samantha Bradshaw, Director of the Center for Security, Innovation & New Technology and Assistant Professor at American University’s School of International Service!

Topic: Governing Digital Thirst: Communicating Inequality in AI Infrastructure’s Water Footprint

AI systems rely on data centers that consume vast amounts of water for cooling, yet water use remains largely invisible in dominant narratives of “sustainable” or “green” AI. This talk examines AI’s hydrological footprint as a problem of communication and environmental justice rather than engineering alone. Drawing on preliminary interviews with government officials, civil society activists, and journalists in Southeast Asia, it shows how governments and technology firms frame data centers as engines of innovation while obscuring localized water impacts. These dynamics shift the ecological costs of AI onto already vulnerable populations, highlighting the need for more transparent and inclusive approaches to governing digital expansion in water-stressed regions.

Recent Publications

AI Governance and the Geopolitics of Extraction by Samantha Bradshaw and Kate Munro

About Samantha Bradshaw

Samantha Bradshaw is the Director of the Center for Security, Innovation & New Technology and an Assistant Professor at American University’s School of International Service. Her research explores the intersections of technology, geopolitics, and governance, with a focus on disinformation, online trust and safety, and the politics of emerging technologies. She has advised governments, industry, and civil society worldwide, and her work has been featured in leading academic journals and global media outlets.

Learn more about the Organizations and Organizing for the Public Good seminar series.