For those who enter a question into Quili.AI on January 31, your query received’t be answered by a big language mannequin, however as an alternative by residents from the Chilean neighborhood of Quilicura.
The challenge goals to switch artificial intelligence with “analog intelligence,” to each spotlight the environmental influence of AI, and to get individuals considering consciously about their AI use.
“We’re inviting individuals to have a day with out AI,” Lorena Antiman from Corporación NGEN, an environmental group targeted partially on defending Quilicura’s wetlands, says whereas talking by means of a translator. Corporación NGEN spearheaded the challenge.
As a substitute of going by means of an information heart, every immediate into the “chatbot” will likely be answered instantly by Quilicura residents. Artists, lecturers, and others locally will all meet in a single place on Saturday, prepared to answer the queries.
Quilicura and information facilities
The individuals of Quilicura, Chile are instantly dwelling with the influence of AI information facilities. The neighborhood is positioned on the sting of Santiago, which is changing into an information heart hub: 16 such facilities have been accepted for building there since 2012.
Information facilities each use immense quantities of vitality, and lots of water to chill the servers. Understanding AI water use may be sophisticated, however some consultants have tried to quantify it. A 2024 Washington Post article says that producing a 100 phrase e-mail with GPT-4 requires 519 milliliters of water, or simply over a bottle.
Google opened its first Latin American information heart in Quilicura in 2015. That facility makes use of 50 liters of water a second—or the identical as 8,000 Chilean households—the New York Times reported in 2025, based mostly on environmental data filed with the federal government. (Google says the websites used much less water the yr prior, about the identical water use as a golf course.)
This information heart growth from tech firms is occurring as Chile experiences a 15-year megadrought. The nation is anticipated to guide the world by way of water stress by 2040.
Neighborhood activists in Quilicura have highlighted the influence of those information facilities by displaying before and after photos of the area’s wetlands, showing dry even throughout the wet season.
How Quili.AI works
As much as 50 neighborhood members will likely be taking part within the day with out AI, prepared to answer Quili.AI prompts over the 24 hours of January 31 solely.
Every of them will deliver their distinctive expertise to the duty. Immediate Quili.Ai to make a sure picture, and a neighborhood artist will draw it. Ask Quili.AI for a recipe, and somebody will share their very own.
“Or want one thing defined to you such as you’re 5?” a neighborhood member says in a video selling the motion. “Ask Mateo. He’s 5.”
As a substitute of servers and cloud computing, neighborhood members will use their very own experiences, their cultural data, and their human judgment. Responses might not be fast, however Antiman says they’ll do their greatest to answer to as many queries as they’ll.
And although the people powering this “analog intelligence” are native to Quilicara, the organizers say anybody can use the instrument.
Instilling higher AI habits
Antiman hopes the motion helps individuals suppose extra responsibly about what they flip to AI for, and if their prompts are well worth the assets they require. Similar to we’re taught to show off lights once we go away a room, or to not run water whereas we brush their enamel, she hopes individuals can be taught higher AI habits.
Many individuals could merely not pay attention to the impacts of utilizing AI. Antiman is a instructor, and he or she says her college students are stunned when she highlights these results.
“They don’t know the implications of the best way they’re utilizing AI,” she says.
The day with out AI can also be an invite, she provides, for individuals to look to their very own neighbors or communities for data. Possibly your neighbor is aware of tips on how to change a tire, or one other already has a recipe for cupcakes, so that you don’t have to ask ChatGPT.
This connection between actual individuals is what makes the Quili.AI challenge so thrilling to Antiman.
“Probably the most magical factor about it’s the neighborhood is the one engaged on it,” she says. “They’re all coming collectively to make this occur.”
