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In an age defined by self-driving cars, autonomous spacecraft, and artificial intelligence, it may come as no surprise that the science of effective water management often goes unnoticed. Many of usespecially in the U.S.have grown accustomed to the convenience of clean, reliable water, and often take it for granted. In fact, most Americans engage with the U.S. water system only via a series of fleeting touch pointswhen they turn a faucet, water their lawn, or start their dishwasherand have come to expect a seamless experience. And yet, behind the scenes, there is a complex, intricate network dedicated to providing safe and dependable water to hundreds of millions of Americans. But over the past several years, faced with unrelenting pressure, that system has started to crack. The truth is that water infrastructure across the U.S. is under immense strain. Decades of underinvestment, extreme weather events, and a huge increase in demand mean our nations water system is no longer fit for purpose. Wasted water One of the most significant areas of concern? Waste. The way we currently use, transport, and capture water is tremendously wasteful. In fact, the U.S. wastes more than 6 billion gallons of treated water a day due to pipe breaks and leaksenough to fill more than 9,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. Not only is that irresponsible, its also incredibly expensive: Water main breaks alone cost Americans $2.6 billion a year in repair and maintenance costs. Across the U.S., the rise of extreme weather events has exacerbated these issues. When there is too much water for one system to take, like during a hurricane, communities face excessive flooding, erosion, inefficient stormwater management, and unsafe water supply. When there is too littlefor example, during a heat wavetowns, cities, and entire states must navigate depleted aquifers, groundwater reservoirs, and, in the most severe cases, sustained droughts. Put simply, water managementour ability to effectively control and leverage water as a holistic resourcehas become an area of critical importance. The good news is that were not starting from scratch. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law in 2021, allocated more than $50 billion to water infrastructure projects, including $20 billion for safe drinking water and $15 billion to replace lead pipes. But much more is needed. According to the 2025 American Society of Civil Engineers report: In 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that the nations water infrastructure needs stand at $625 billion over 20 years. That exceeds the EPAs 2018 assessment by more than $150 billion. The reality is that if we want to future-proof water infrastructure for the next generation, we need distinct, separate funding streams dedicated to improving water management programs, addressing the existing shortfall, and ensuring that no American suffers the consequences of poor water management, no matter where they live. Innovation is required Of course, solving such an immense challenge will require more than funding alone. We also need to embrace the transformational power of innovation. At its core, technology significantly improves our capacity to understand, react to, and solve complex water problems, making the entire water network more resilient, accessible, and easily managed. Fundamentally, it makes the invisible visible.” One of the reasons this is such a complex problem is because almost everything is underground. Thanks to technology, we are able to remove some of that obscurity, generating a degree of insight that previously we never thought was possible. Nowhere is that commitment more evident than in the work being done across the industry to integrate and scale artificial intelligence. By combining predictive and real time AI-driven analysis, innovative companies across the U.S. are developing the tools required to detect areas of elevated break risk and allow cities and counties to prioritize repairs to the most urgent areas of the network. Cutting-edge companies like Voda.ai, an AI software in which my company just invested that helps utilities create plans and do risk modeling, are a great example of that commitment in action, demonstrating just one of the many exciting projects were seeing across the sector. But AI isnt the only technology changing how water infrastructure is managed. Today, digitally powered smart drainage systems can adjust flow rates in response to real-time climate datahelping to mitigate flood riskand provide more control over when and where water is diverted. These systems can be integrated into major infrastructure projects, protecting critical buildings and reducing the potential damage to at-risk communities. Unfortunately, like with most technologies, there is no silver bullet that can address all the problems we face. Instead, what we have is a wide range of capabilities that, when used effectively, help drive down risk, mitigate major disruptions, and protect the most vulnerable parts of the network. The path ahead When you look at the challenges facing U.S. water infrastructure, its clear that significant hurdles remain. But there are also tremendous opportunities. The continued onshoring of critical services (including the production of computer chips fueling next-generation AI) should provide our country with additional motivation to address existing water infrastructure shortfalls so that we can ensure our communitiesas well as our manufacturing and services industrieshave access to safe and reliable water, wherever they need it most. The time has come for the U.S. to pay back its water infrastructure debt, and give one of our most precious and economically important resources the attention it deserves.
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Israel launched a wave of strikes across Iran on Friday that targeted its nuclear program and military sites, killing at least two top military officers and raising the prospect of an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq. Iran quickly retaliated, sending a swarm of drones at Israel as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of severe punishment. The attack comes as tensions reached new heights over Tehrans rapidly advancing nuclear program. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more advanced ones. Israeli leaders cast the attack as necessary to head off an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, though it remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that. Associated Press
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In three years, a fellow tech executive recently told me with serene confidence, Everyone will be able to make a full-length movie in AI, totally personalized for them, by just typing up a few prompts. I considered pointing out that this would destroy one of the central functions of art, and one of its greatest pleasures: to connect individuals across time and space through a single act of imagination. But I didnt bother. The furious debate around AI and art mostly consists of opposing sides talking past each other. Tech evangelists offer breezy assertions that generative AI empowers everyone to become an artist, while creators across multiple mediums rage against the technology as a threat to their livelihoodor even to the future of human creativity. Disney and Universals lawsuit against Midjourney will likely intensify this cultural clash. Its painful to hear the hyperbole flying from both directions, especially since I have a foot in both camps. After a lifetime honing my craft, Im proud to have written several New York Times-bestselling novels and every episode of my TV show Panic. In recent years, after researching various technologies for creative projects, Ive also contributed to the development of new AI models. As someone who works in both AI and the arts, let me point out some of the key nuances getting lost in the noise. Generative AI needs artists. Not the other way around Heres a secret that hyperbolic AI execs dont like to acknowledge, but artists should definitely hear: LLMs like ChatGPT have already consumed virtually all the data available online. To meaningfully improve, they now need a continuous influx of new content, including original art. Without it, theyre headed for a recursive loop: generating content that feeds on other AI-generated content, leading to increasingly low-quality or bizarre results. To put it bluntly, generative AI companies need artists and the work they havent made yet. OpenAIs infamous Studio Ghibli meme stunt rightly drew criticism for disrespecting Miyazakis well-known disdain for AI, but it also underscored a key point: theres only so much beloved art in the world at the level of Studio Ghibli, and AI has already devoured it. Artists should recognize the leverage this gives them. They could collectively establish terms AI companies must follow for any content published online, or risk starving the models of fresh creative input. At the same time, artists might reconsider viewing generative AI solely as a threat. That defensive posture underestimates the enduring value of their talent and risks missing out on new avenues of creativity. If anything, the deluge of AI-generated sludge may actually elevate the value of handmade artbooks, paintings, sculpture, live performancemaking these physical forms more precious than ever. Media history supports this. In the early 2000s, with the rise of podcasting, radios demise seemed imminent. Yet today, radio remains twice as popular as podcastsnearly 80 years after TVs debut supposedly heralded its end. Its also clear how much generative AI companies struggle without artists to guide them. Consider the endless parade of AI-generated social media influencerspale imitations of their human counterparts. Why not create an influencer that looks and acts like a dragon or a new alien species? Without someone to infuse the process with joy and imagination, generative AI content fails to engage, inspire, or unite. Or in creative industry terms: its not compelling IP. Artists may not need generative AI, but its a toolset worth exploring. Im excited about what happens when this technology is wielded by real artists. They, not coders, will be the ones to discover new forms of storytelling and visualization that were previously unimaginable. What Art and AI Already Share Im hopeful that well see more collaboration between AI companies and artists. But first, each side must recognize that while they may share a goalcreating something disruptivetheir approaches are radically different. In tech, efficiency is often the end goal of innovation. For artists, inefficiency is the process. The noodling, tweaking, perfecting, and obsessing: these are usually ignored by tech when designing generative AI platforms, but theyre essential to the creation of truly unique art. And, I would argue, essential to the joy of creating at all. Creativity is fundamentally the act of imprinting imagination onto the world; it is visible in the whorls, details, and choices that reflect the makers expressive spirit. My tech executive friend, who believes AI movies can be prompted into existence, overlooks how the inefficiency of the creative process is integral not just to the final product but to the pleasure of making it. It often takes me a full day to write a single page, agonizing over every metaphor and word choice. And the writing is only one phase: I recently sold a novel, The Girl in the Lake, based on my decades-long fascination with past lives and near-death experiences, and their possible scientific underpinnings. Still, I believe the friction between art and tech is partly fueled by an uncomfortable truth: They have more in common than theyd like to admit. Both are highly elitist and gatekeeping industries, often skeptical of anyone outside their preferred colleges, institutions, or circles. Both are ego-driven, with a belief that their work is among the most important contributions to humanity. In their own ways, both technologists and artists are bidding for immortalitywhether by creating a timeless novel or a godlike AI. A little humility from both sides could go a long way toward making future conversations more productive. I first got into developing technology while researching for my novels, and Ive never forgotten that the word technology comes from techneGreek for a system for making art. Heres to an AI-driven future that expands artistic possibility, rather than one locked in outdated, binary debates.
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