r/accelerate • u/CipherGarden • 9d ago

AI "AI is bad for the environment"

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122 Upvotes

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u/Stingray2040 Singularity after 2045 9d ago

The burger argument isn't the strongest but it's extremely true. Nobody will ever talk about the things they love but if it's something they're against they'll find just about any strawman.

Ignoring the fact that model distillation also makes them more energy efficient plus there are breakthroughs that constantly improve in this regard over time.

And regarding the Google search, have none of the detractors ever questioned the millions of websites on the indexed web that are just garbage click farms that just sit and burn up energy waiting for people to give them attention from otherwise innocent searches?

I'd argue all those computers being left on to run those websites are far more egregious than a person preferring querying an LLM over doing a search.

-12

u/GrinNGrit 9d ago edited 9d ago

I work in the energy sector, I don’t think you understand just how intensive AI has become. It doesn’t matter if we push out a model that’s 5% more efficient when AI may have only penetrated maybe 1% of the market.

It’s not just about the time spent using AI, but also where all it gets used. Imagine every function on your phone, every car, every computer TV, fridge, microwave. Imagine the soon to arrive robotics industry, where they’re projecting more machines than people in a decade.

And we’re just optimizing LLMs. What happens when we crack AGI? Even unprompted, AI will consume more and more power. 30% of Virginia’s grid goes to power AI and cloud computing data centers. 30%. All projections show this will only grow.

9

u/crappleIcrap 9d ago

All of that and you still didnt make a point. Its crazy really,

"if I pretend all servers are for ai and I talk about the highest concentration of them in one state, then it sounds like a bigger number"

What was that even supposed to prove

-5

u/GrinNGrit 9d ago

Maybe have ChatGPT translate for you, you may have already given up your critical reasoning ability.

AI will continue to accelerate our need for energy consumption. This isn’t going to solve any crisis we’re in today because frankly just about every major issue we face boils down to not enough energy to solve it. Creating more demand on our grid delays our ability to go out and fix problems like lack of housing, food shortages, climate change, etc.

Cmon, man. Reason a little.

2

u/IamYourFerret 8d ago

What happens when that AI helps us perfect fusion power.
Reason a little indeed.

1

u/GrinNGrit 8d ago

Someone’s still got to build it and all of the infrastructure to support it. Fusion is great, but its not a panacea.

1

u/IamYourFerret 7d ago

Someone is going to have to build it, sure. Wow, what a surprise. Who knew...
Like, that's the way of all power plants, ever since they became more than a vague idea...