A Chilean Town Turns Off AI for a Day to Expose Its Hidden Water Use
January 28, 2026 | Source: E+E Leader
Quilicura, Chile — In one of Chile’s most water-stressed regions, the community of Quilicura is taking on an unprecedented challenge: replacing artificial intelligence with human intelligence for a day to make the hidden water footprint of AI impossible to ignore.
On January 31, the town will launch Quili.AI, a human-powered alternative to AI that invites people around the world to submit the everyday questions they would normally ask a machine. Instead of being routed through energy-intensive data centers, each prompt is answered directly by Quilicura residents—drawing on lived experience, cultural knowledge, and human judgment. For 24 hours, no servers, no cloud computing, and no cooling systems will be used.
The initiative is led by Corporación NGEN, an organization dedicated to restoring, promoting, and educating about the natural heritage of its community, in collaboration with independent global creative partner Tombras, which has a major presence in South America and has been closely following the environmental impact of AI infrastructure as water stress intensifies across the region.