Andy Masley
@andymasley.bsky.social
When the going gets weird the weird turn pro.
Director of EA DC linktr.ee/andymasley
Director of EA DC linktr.ee/andymasley
The Straussian undercurrent of all my writing is "Farmers: not always great"
A bipartisan problem is America's fetishistic worshipping of farming and farmers so even when the farms are the clear bad guys here, the editors decided the blame must be placed somewhere else.
You absolutely need to change this headline. It's unacceptable and disrespectful to the people harmed by the pollution.
This article itself makes it clear that the water pollution linked to cancer and miscarriages is coming entirely from nitrate pollution from farms.
This article itself makes it clear that the water pollution linked to cancer and miscarriages is coming entirely from nitrate pollution from farms.
November 25, 2025 at 7:29 PM
The Straussian undercurrent of all my writing is "Farmers: not always great"
While I get a lot of good criticisms of EA, sometimes I also get criticisms that say "We need to allow billions of people to die, and if you don't support that you're a monster"
November 25, 2025 at 4:09 PM
While I get a lot of good criticisms of EA, sometimes I also get criticisms that say "We need to allow billions of people to die, and if you don't support that you're a monster"
Just one of those nights www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cce...
My Sources, My Data, and Me
YouTube video by Andy's AI Songs
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Just one of those nights www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cce...
Rolling Stone recently ran a really terrible headline that lets a huge environmental bad guy off the hook for giving people cancer. I'm already ratioing them on Twitter but would appreciate some eyes here as well
You absolutely need to change this headline. It's unacceptable and disrespectful to the people harmed by the pollution.
This article itself makes it clear that the water pollution linked to cancer and miscarriages is coming entirely from nitrate pollution from farms.
This article itself makes it clear that the water pollution linked to cancer and miscarriages is coming entirely from nitrate pollution from farms.
November 25, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Rolling Stone recently ran a really terrible headline that lets a huge environmental bad guy off the hook for giving people cancer. I'm already ratioing them on Twitter but would appreciate some eyes here as well
Crazy who you bump into at the airport
November 21, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Crazy who you bump into at the airport
If you don't want to go to bat for AI but would like a data center like issue to be driven crazy about, look no further than: grid batteries www.wbur.org/news/2025/11...
November 20, 2025 at 4:26 PM
If you don't want to go to bat for AI but would like a data center like issue to be driven crazy about, look no further than: grid batteries www.wbur.org/news/2025/11...
AOC NO NOT THE MIT STUDY
Trump's economy is being held up by a massive AI bubble.
A recent study found that of 300 companies that owned generative AI tools, 95% reported zero return on their investments.
We will not entertain a bailout of these companies should this bubble pop.
A recent study found that of 300 companies that owned generative AI tools, 95% reported zero return on their investments.
We will not entertain a bailout of these companies should this bubble pop.
November 19, 2025 at 7:53 PM
AOC NO NOT THE MIT STUDY
I think this incident reflects badly on the broader institutions currently covering AI and the environment. I should absolutely not have been the first person to notice this. From the end of the post:
November 18, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I think this incident reflects badly on the broader institutions currently covering AI and the environment. I should absolutely not have been the first person to notice this. From the end of the post:
The author of Empire of AI got back to me, which I’m very grateful for, but unfortunately her response 100% confirmed that the central claim I call a mistake is wrong, and even showed me how it happened: her source mistyped meters cubed as liters. Kind of a wild discovery to make. Link below
November 17, 2025 at 3:22 AM
The author of Empire of AI got back to me, which I’m very grateful for, but unfortunately her response 100% confirmed that the central claim I call a mistake is wrong, and even showed me how it happened: her source mistyped meters cubed as liters. Kind of a wild discovery to make. Link below
I'm so confused about this
November 17, 2025 at 1:36 AM
I'm so confused about this
This is the single most massive factual error in a major book I've ever personally noticed on my own, and I think I'm the first person to catch it? Empire of AI asserts that a data center is using 1000x as much water as a city. In reality, it's 22% of the city's water.
November 16, 2025 at 10:17 PM
This is the single most massive factual error in a major book I've ever personally noticed on my own, and I think I'm the first person to catch it? Empire of AI asserts that a data center is using 1000x as much water as a city. In reality, it's 22% of the city's water.
New post: I think Empire of AI has the worst coverage of AI/water that I've read. I discovered one massive factual error where the author gets a number wrong by 3 orders of magnitude. In every place water's mentioned, the reader is left understanding less andymasley.substack.com/p/empire-of-...
November 16, 2025 at 9:30 PM
New post: I think Empire of AI has the worst coverage of AI/water that I've read. I discovered one massive factual error where the author gets a number wrong by 3 orders of magnitude. In every place water's mentioned, the reader is left understanding less andymasley.substack.com/p/empire-of-...
Okay another unpopular take. Qualifying this with saying:
1) I support basically open borders.
2) This guy did something really terrible and should go to prison for a long time.
But I actually do think online doxxing is a form of cruel unusual punishment that even murderers don't deserve.
1) I support basically open borders.
2) This guy did something really terrible and should go to prison for a long time.
But I actually do think online doxxing is a form of cruel unusual punishment that even murderers don't deserve.
Listen to this Border Patrol agent cry about how he's going to be DOXXED after being arrested for drunkenly barging into a woman's restroom with a loaded gun, demanding a date from the woman inside, and then punching the arresting officers.
November 15, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Okay another unpopular take. Qualifying this with saying:
1) I support basically open borders.
2) This guy did something really terrible and should go to prison for a long time.
But I actually do think online doxxing is a form of cruel unusual punishment that even murderers don't deserve.
1) I support basically open borders.
2) This guy did something really terrible and should go to prison for a long time.
But I actually do think online doxxing is a form of cruel unusual punishment that even murderers don't deserve.
Recently received some strong criticism of my AI water use article on Lobsters here: lobste.rs/s/lywf8s/ai_...
My reply here if anyone's interested:
My reply here if anyone's interested:
November 15, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Recently received some strong criticism of my AI water use article on Lobsters here: lobste.rs/s/lywf8s/ai_...
My reply here if anyone's interested:
My reply here if anyone's interested:
Learning the hard way a few times that if you leave any indication that you found a source using ChatGPT people will eagerly dismiss the entire thing. I use ChatGPT as basically a super powered search and double-check all my sources. Looks like this is still pretty commonly disqualifying
November 15, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Learning the hard way a few times that if you leave any indication that you found a source using ChatGPT people will eagerly dismiss the entire thing. I use ChatGPT as basically a super powered search and double-check all my sources. Looks like this is still pretty commonly disqualifying
Okay folks, after doing some digging I have determined that everyone complaining about AI using precious potable water specifically have no clue what they're talking about. Will finish this soon.
November 14, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Okay folks, after doing some digging I have determined that everyone complaining about AI using precious potable water specifically have no clue what they're talking about. Will finish this soon.
Good nudge that I'll circle back on. As a point of comparison, all AI in America in 2023 used about as much water as 8x my hometown of 16,000's water supply. All that water is also potable. So it was equivalent to adding ~8 of my hometowns. I don't expect this to change the situation but will see
@andymasley.bsky.social you've written a about data center water usage, have you explored differences in water quality?
If data centers use potable drinking water (to avoid damaging their cooling equipment with mineral buildup-up) that means comparisons to agricultural water usage may be misleading
If data centers use potable drinking water (to avoid damaging their cooling equipment with mineral buildup-up) that means comparisons to agricultural water usage may be misleading
November 14, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Good nudge that I'll circle back on. As a point of comparison, all AI in America in 2023 used about as much water as 8x my hometown of 16,000's water supply. All that water is also potable. So it was equivalent to adding ~8 of my hometowns. I don't expect this to change the situation but will see
The difficulty of talking about whether "tech" is good is that some people use it to mean short form video content turning everyone far right and others use it to mean GMOs and the ability for far-off different people to communicate at all
November 13, 2025 at 5:36 PM
The difficulty of talking about whether "tech" is good is that some people use it to mean short form video content turning everyone far right and others use it to mean GMOs and the ability for far-off different people to communicate at all
Preach
I genuinely don’t think people realize that datacenters and what they accomplish (hyperscalers) are genuinely a far more efficient way to do the computation required for modern life. Limiting datacenters is not more efficient and does not consume less power for the same amount of compute.
November 13, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Preach
My new favorite thing I've made with AI: Every Mountain Goats song before 2006 www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePNm...
Every Mountain Goats Song before 2006
YouTube video by Andy's AI Songs
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:04 AM
My new favorite thing I've made with AI: Every Mountain Goats song before 2006 www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePNm...
I reference this image like once a week
November 12, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I reference this image like once a week
I shared a short succinct summary of my core strongest arguments that using chatbots is definitely not bad for the environment you can share with skeptical people in your life andymasley.substack.com/p/a-short-su...
A short summary of my argument that using ChatGPT isn't bad for the environment
To share with anyone still worried
andymasley.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I shared a short succinct summary of my core strongest arguments that using chatbots is definitely not bad for the environment you can share with skeptical people in your life andymasley.substack.com/p/a-short-su...