Today, the world faces not only traditional crises such as wars, poverty, and climate change. New and unfamiliar questions are pressing on humanity—questions that feel like a test of our future. One of the most urgent is this: Who deserves access to water and food first? Humans—who need them to drink, farm, and survive—or Artificial Intelligence—which requires vast amounts of water to cool data centres so it can run and answer our questions? A Scene from Reality Two friends sat at a café on a scorching afternoon, sweat running down their faces as they searched for a breath of air. The first, visibly excited, held up his phone to show off an AI app. He laughed and said: "Look! In seconds it writes articles for me and draws pictures. Amazing and terrifying at the same time—this machine seems smarter than people!" The second smiled sadly and replied quietly: "Do you realise that every response carries a hidden cost—not money, but water and electricity? The first opened his eyes wide: "What do you mean?" The second explained: "It's simpler than you think. Every time you ask AI for an answer, massive data centres power up and overheat. To keep running, they consume millions of litres of water for cooling and as much electricity as an entire city. The same litre of water that could irrigate a farmer's land in a village might instead be used to cool a computer writing you an article." The first fell silent, his chest tightening. He muttered: "So, these machines are now competing with us for the very water we need to survive?" The second nodded: "Exactly. We're in a strange race: humans versus machines. But the real danger isn't the race itself. It is that the rules are set not by fairness or humanity, but by investment. And when profit dictates the rules, the 'fittest' won't be people—it will be the machine backed by corporations and money." The first looked down at his coffee cup, tasting a new bitterness. His voice trembled: "Are you saying there might come a time when the machines drink more water than we do?" The second answered: "Yes. Unless we put in place laws that protect resources and give priority to people, we may reach a stage where AI takes its share before we do. And instead of technology serving us, we'll end up serving it. That's the new conflict unfolding in the world... a conflict of survival." The Stark Reality This is not science fiction—it's numbers being recorded every day. In the UAE alone, data centres may consume more than 20 billion litres of water a year. In Egypt, a single small data centre can use 25 million litres annually—in a country already suffering water scarcity. The electricity these centres consume could power entire cities. And all of this is not always for saving lives or advancing medicine—it can simply be for drawing an image or writing an article. For the first time, we find ourselves in direct competition with machines for the essentials of life: water and food. And in the absence of transparency, it is investment and large corporations that decide the priorities. Solutions Before Thirst Overtakes Us The picture is bleak, but solutions exist—if there is willpower. * Smarter cooling: adopting advanced systems that recycle and cut water use instead of wasting it. * Renewable energy: powering data centers through solar and wind instead of coal and fossil fuels. * Regulation: laws requiring companies to disclose how much water and power they use, with strict limits in countries facing scarcity. * Human priority: the golden rule must be clear—resources belong to people first, and then to technology. A Final Word This issue is not just about advanced technology or the luxuries of tomorrow. It is a matter of survival: will we allow AI to become a thirsty giant that takes its share before humans? Or will we draw a firm line and declare water and food rights for people first? Technology can serve humanity, but if we surrender to its greed, we may one day wake up as mere guests in a world where the "fittest" is no longer the human, but the machine.
