For a Thing That Will Supposedly Fix the Climate, AI Sure Needs a Lot of Fossil Fuels

https://www.splinter.com/for-a-thing-that-will-supposedly-fix-the-climate-ai-sure-needs-a-lot-of-fossil-fuels

by silence7

8 comments

  1. It’s almost like AI is just the latest carrot being dangled in front of us to sell us more crap and keep BAU going just a bit longer.

  2. I was thinking that after I heard they want to reopen Three Mile Island to power AI.

  3. What a shame—almost none of the AI I’ve encountered has been worthwhile. I suppose ChatGPT could be useful in some circumstances, but its style is grating, and everything it says needs to be fact-checked anyhow. AI-generated photos almost always look hideous, although AI software that enhances existing photos can achieve some remarkable results. Likewise, AI does seem to be useful for scientific research. On the other hand, does anyone use that silly AI blurb at the top of Google searches? I always ignore it. The same goes with the AI assistant in Facebook and Instagram—what’s the point? They seem like a spectacular waste. If I had to guess, 10% of AI is useful, and 90% is completely worthless.

  4. Headline is a bit of clickbait in my view.

    AI isn’t “supposed to fix the climate.”

    It’s supposed to help with any problem in theory, and the climate is one of them. But you might as well say “AI is supposed to cure cancer” or “AI is supposed to fix traffic problems.” They are all true in their way, but not so true that we should write whole articles on it.

    AI is killing the environment with it’s huge power needs is certainly a valid headline though.

  5. It’s no surprise that there’s no clean power available for anything, when most people keep voting for leaders with moto’s like “Drill, baby Drill !”.

  8. Or, here’s a thought, don’t power the grid with fossil fuels and servers won’t use any.

    Crazy, I know.

    You could make this argument for heat pumps too. It’s a ridiculous statement.

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