Shruthi Venkat is a 
designer ~ researcher ~ facilitator 
who works with 
//emerging technology // society //environement //intelligence //learning //public spaces //experiences




MOST RECENT PROJECTS
📚 AIxLearning (wip)
🌅 The ‘Good Morning’ Campaign (wip)
📷 Woven Streets
💧 Thirsty Machines
🖲️ Future of Quantum and VR
🖥️ Adoption of AI and VR in higher-ed
🛵 Re-thinking Explainable AI
📱 Exploring Tech-Inequality
🔮 More-than-human Conversation Starters
🪢 Data Manifestation



Thirsty Machines (2025)

Environmental Impact of Generative AI

 Thirsty Machines is an installation that traces the hidden impact and environmental consequences of Generative Artificial Intelligence. It sheds light on the resource-intensive infrastructure behind AI interactions. The work begins with a conversational agent that imagines surreal and poetic futures where nature and intelligence intertwine. Each new scenario feeds into a system that translates digital queries into physical consumption. As the scenario unfolds, water begins to flow through the system until it visibly drains down.


As the stories unfold, the interface also reveals the reality behind the system: the litres of water consumed, energy spent, and the ecosystems altered. In the installation, water is not just a metaphor but a material cost. This is only the beginning, AI is not slowing- it's accelerating, growing larger, hungrier, and deeply embedded in everyday life. As models expand and demand for computation multiplies, so will the thirst of these machines.

By transforming abstract questions into tangible environmental consequences, Thirsty Machines attempts to make the invisible visible. The work invites audiences to reflect on this paradox: a technology that consumes vast resources to dream, to imagine, to create. It confronts us with the question of how much intelligence this planet can afford.

Developed during a 2025 Summer Sessions residency at V2_.

Photos by Fenna de Jong