Do we know how energy usage of AI compares to other daily tasks?
Like: rendering a minute of a fully animated film, flying from L.A. to New York, watching a whole series on Netflix, scrolling this site for an hour, or manufacturing a bottle of tylenol?
How does asking AI “2+2” compare to generating a three second animation in 1080p? There has to be a wide gamut of energy use per task.
And then the impact would depend on where your energy comes from. Which is a whole other thing, we should be demanding cleaner, more efficient energy sources.
A quick search on energy consumption by AI brings up a list of articles repeating the mantra that it’s substantial, but sources are vague or non-existent. None provide details to be able to confidently answer any of the above questions.
That’s not to say AI doesn’t consume significant power, it’s saying most people don’t regulate their lives by energy consumption.
masterspace@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
If they pay to power it with sustainable energy then it doesn’t. Simple as that. Energy use is really not a problem.
AI’s biggest problem is that it accelerates the effects of capitalism, including wealth concentration and our societies are not set up to handle or been to adapt particularly quickly.
sanguinepar@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It is if doing so means taking up existing capacity in sustainable energy.
If they were always adding new sustainable capacity specifically for their data centres, that would be one thing, but if all they do is pay for the use of existing capacity, that potentially just pushes the issue down the road a bit.
If/when there’s enough capacity to supply all homes and businesses then this issue would disappear, but I don’t know how close that is.
Yermaw@lemm.ee 1 day ago
We’re boned