Altman calls space data centers "ridiculous," says AI water usage claims are "totally fake"

Sam Altman dismissed Elon Musk's orbital data center ambitions at an India event, calling the idea "ridiculous" given current launch costs and the difficulty of repairing chips in space. "Orbital data centers are not something that's going to matter at scale this decade," he said. Altman also pushed back on AI's environmental critics, calling water usage claims "totally insane, no connection to reality" since data centers no longer use evaporative cooling. He acknowledged total energy consumption is a fair concern and urged a rapid shift to nuclear and renewables.

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