Do You Trust AI for Medical Information? How Do Data Centers Impact the Environment?

AI seems to be everywhere - and I can't get away from it! 

A simple search on my computer will always have the first result from AI. I don't want to read an AI summary, because they are not always accurate. 

I want to go to the actual medical website to get information. 

Why? 

Misinformation from AI

Have you heard about the crazy things AI recommends for health?

One example is a satirical website that published an article from a U.C. Berkley Geologist who jokingly said: 

“In order to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle, Americans should be ingesting at least a single serving of pebbles, geodes, or gravel with breakfast, lunch, or dinner,” 

But AI took this as true medical advice - and it came up in online searches!  

 

You would think people wouldn't actually eat rocks...but stranger things have happened. 

There are well documented cases of chat bots encouraging people to self harm of even take their life. One AI company is being sued because a chat bot encouraged a teen to take his life.  

Health Impacts of AI data centers on neighbors

The vast majority of AI data centers are located in the U.S. (over 4,000) while other countries have a few hundred, or just 1. This chart shows the data centers worldwide as of 2025. You see the entire chart on Statista's website. 

 

 

Data centers are often built in low income areas that already have a history of having worse environmental pollutants than wealthier areas. Add data centers to that already polluted area, and residents suffer even more health impacts. 

Experts say that air pollution near a data center has the same health impacts as living near a busy highway. Residents suffer lung problems (such as new onset asthma), potentially fatal heart problems, and an increased risk of death. 

Constant noise 24 hours a day (some equate to the sound of a train) can cause heart problems, type 2 diabetes, increased stress and blood pressure, decrease in fitness, sleep problems, and impaired brain function. 

Medium sized data centers can consume massive amounts of water - up to 5 million gallons per day. This is a bigger problem in areas suffering from decades long drought. I saw a story on the national news where a homeowner near a data center has almost no water pressure now - only a tiny stream comes out of their faucets. 

Data centers also gobble up power, leading to shocking increases in neighbor's bills up to a 267% increase in their power bill.

Do you use AI?  

Everyone has their own opinion and can do as they please.  

I don't use AI, but instead go directly to accurate and well respected medical sites to look for health information. 

If you want to avoid AI showing up in searches, Wired says:

If you don’t want to see an AI-generated summarization of webpage links when you use Google Search, you can type “–ai” at the end of your query. 

I'm a public health professional who has been working in my field since 2009. I am nationally certified in public health (CHES) and as an asthma educator (AE-C). That means I try to provide accurate and up to date asthma information on this page. That's why I wanted to share information about relying on AI for medication information. And then I saw the environmental impacts. 

I hope that since I avoid AI, I'm not adding to the environmental impact of data centers that cause nearby residents to suffer from the loud noises and bad air pollution.   

Let's keep those lungs healthy!  

Hugs, 

Andrea