Big Tech's water guzzling to cool AI servers is serious, even if this viral ad isn't.
There’s a new publicity stunt tapping into widespread opposition to AI data centers, and it’s using bathroom humor to make a statement.
Former NFL player Jason Kelce, who is also the co-owner of Garage Beer and the co-host of the New Heights podcast with his brother Travis (Taylor Swift’s husband), is the unlikely face of a marketing campaign, launched Tuesday, that puts artificial intelligence on notice. And, well, it’s all about the power of pee.
You read that right, and I apologize in advance for the amount of urine jokes in this article. Tread lightly, I guess.
The now-viral ad opens with Kelce using the bathroom. It cuts to him holding a jar of yellow liquid, issuing a call to action to a happy mob of folks frolicking through grassy terrain, singing, “Let’s pee on computers together and save humanity.” It immediately conjures up that iconic 1970s Coke commercial where hippies harmonize a message of peace, love and unity on a sunny hillside. Except instead of teaching the world to sing, Kelce is asking you to bottle up your pee in a collectible mug and send it to the AI data center of your choice.
If you’re not yet up to speed on the matter, AI data centers are large facilities that store the massive amount of hardware needed to train and run AI models. These warehouses are stocked with high-performance graphics processing units, which provide the power for you to use AI for researching, streamlining video production and, well, creating all the slop your heart desires.
Despite the unserious angle of the marketing stunt taking the piss out of AI (I’m sorry), Kelce’s ad carries a deeper message about the threat data centers pose to our neighborhoods, our resources and our future.
There are nearly 4,000 AI data centers in the country, currently. A database created by environmental activist Erin Brockovich shows where they’re located, with the majority being built in rural areas.
To keep data centers running, an excessive amount of fresh water is required to cool servers so they don’t melt down or explode. Evaporative cooling towers use water to absorb heat generated by servers.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute published a report in 2025 that says large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons each day, which is equivalent to the amount of water used by a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.
As massive amounts of potable water are being redirected, people who live near these data centers have growing concerns about how this water extraction will affect their daily lives, farming and basic household needs. Another fear: Who will be stuck paying these ginormous utility bills? Consumers are left holding the bag.
The other resource to discuss is electricity. New facilities, like the recently announced data center from OpenAI and Nvidia that would be built in Pike County, Ohio, are projected to use a lot of compute. The Ports-Pike Technology Campus is projected to consume roughly 8 gigawatts of power, equivalent to the annual energy use of 6 million average US households.
Then there’s Meta’s Hyperion, the 4-million-square-foot AI campus being constructed in Louisiana. It’s flattened an area known for its soybean crops and river cane, and when it’s all built and operational, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says the gargantuan data center will consume three times the power New Orleans uses on any given day.
In other words, more than a piss load of energy.
Resource consumption, uncertainty over costs and environmental concerns have helped fuel a growing AI backlash.