The massive computer clusters powering artificial intelligence consume vast quantities to answer the world’s queries, but how is Big Tech redressing the balance?

Writing a 100-word email using ChatGPT (GPT-4, latest model) consumes 1 x 500ml bottle of water It uses 140Wh of energy, enough for 7 full charges of an iPhone Pro Max

  • a4ng3l@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    The real surprise for me is how little the battery of my iphone holds. Especially compared to my ev6 or what my heat pump guzzles daily. Crazy.

  • maplebar@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    30 days ago

    Mark my words: generative “AI” is the tech bubble of all tech bubbles.

    It’s an infinite supply of “content” in a world of finite demand. While fast, it is incredibly inefficient at creating anything, often including things with dubious quality at best. And finally, there seems to be very little consumer interest in paid-for, commercial generative AI services. A niche group of people are happy to use generative AI while it’s available for free, but once companies start charging for access to services and datasets, the number of people who are interested in paying for it will obviously be significantly smaller.

    Last I checked there was more than a TRILLION dollars of investment into generative AI across the US economy, with practically zero evidence of genuinely profitable business models that could ever lead to any return on investment. The entire thing is a giant money pit, and I don’t see any way in which someone doesn’t get left holding the $1,000,000,000,000 generative AI bag.

  • zerozaku@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    29 days ago

    I have read the comments here and all I understand from my small brain is that, because we are using bigger models which are online, for simple tasks, this huge unnecessary power consumption is happening.

    So, can the on-device NPUs we are getting on flagship mobile phones solve these problems, as we can do most of those simple tasks offline on-device?

    • WolfLink@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
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      29 days ago

      I’ve run an LLM on my desktop GPU and gotten decent results, albeit not nearly as good as what ChatGPT will get you.

      Probably used less than 0.1Wh per response.

    • XIIIesq@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      29 days ago

      I don’t understand the hate for AI. It’s a new technology that has some teething issues, but it’s only going to get better and more efficient.

      • lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
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        29 days ago

        Until it does, we shouldn’t exacerbate the climate and resource issues we already have by blindly buying into the hype and building more and larger corporate-scale power gluttons to produce even more heat than we’re already dealing with.

        “AI” has potential, ideas like machine assistance with writing letters and improving security by augmenting human alertness are all nice. Unfortunately, it also has destructive potential for things like surveillance, even deadlier weapons or accelerating the wealth extraction of those with the capital to invest in building aforementioned power gluttons.

        Additionally, it risks misuse and overreliance, which is particularly dangerous in the current stage where it can’t entirely replace humans (yet), the issues of which may not immediately become apparent until they do damage.

        If and until the abilities of AI reach the point where they can compensate tech illiteracy and we no longer need to worry about the exorbitant heat production, it shouldn’t be deployed at scale at all, and even then its use needs to be scrutinised, regulated and that regulation is appropriately enforced (which basically requires significant social and political change, so good luck).

      • dan@upvote.auEnglish
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        29 days ago

        It’s a new technology

        It’s not really… It’s just that it’s become more mainstream now.

    • goog70@lemmy.todayEnglish
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      29 days ago

      Billions of people have been using Google for years, and Google has been using artificial intelligence for years. It’s nothing new.

    • stinky@redlemmy.comEnglish
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      22 days ago

      You mean you were doing just fine without it.

      You don’t speak for the entire human race friendo. You don’t get to decide what happens to us, and thank God. You seem too emotional and selfish to be any good at leadership.

      • WrenFeathers@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        22 days ago

        Emotional and selfish? Right. Sooo…

        • AI is ruining the environment and has yet to show any positive reason for it
        • AI is taking jobs from people
        • AI is destroying our art and our entertainment

        But according to you…. I’m selfish for wanting to stop it.

        And where do you get the idea that I’m being to emotional? Is it just that you thought it would help you by removing any validation from my statement?

        How about this:

        YOU don’t get to speak for me, friends. You don’t get to decide if I’m emotional. And thank god. You seem too ignorant to be any good and psychological diagnoses.

  • vinnymac@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    1 month ago

    Why does the article make it sound like cooling a data center results in constant water loss? Is this not a closed loop system?

    I’m imagining a giant reservoir heat sink that runs throughout a complex to pull heat out of the surrounding environment where some liquid evaporates and needs to be replenished. But first of all we have more efficient liquid coolants, and second that would be a very lazy solution.

    I wonder if they’ve considered geothermal for new data centers. You can run a geothermal loop in reverse and use the earth as a giant heat sink. It’s not water in the loop, it’s refrigerant, and it only needs to be replaced when you find the efficiency dropping, which can take decades.

    • someguy3@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      30 days ago

      You can run a geothermal loop in reverse and use the earth as a giant heat sink.

      You need something to move the heat away, like water or air. Having something solid that just absorbs will reach its heat capacity pretty quick.

      • Ace@feddit.ukEnglish
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        30 days ago

        I don’t know, but given that ground-source heat pumps are one of the most efficient ways to heat a building, and this suggestion is just exactly that in reverse (pumping the heat into the ground instead of out of it), I’d imagine that it will not just “reach its heat capacity”. The heat would flow away just as it flows to a heat pump. If the entire earth reaches its heat capacity I think we’d have problems.

    • Munkisquisher@lemmy.nzEnglish
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      30 days ago

      Evaporative coolers save a ton of energy compared to refrigerator cycle closed loop systems. Like a swamp cooler, the hot liquid that comes from cooling the server is exposed to the atmosphere and enough evaporates off to cool the liquid by a decent percentage, then it’s refrigerated before going back into the servers.

      Data centre near me is using it and the fire service is used to be being called by people concerned the huge clouds of water vapor are smoke

    • JPAKx4@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      It highly depends on every data center, but it is very likely that they do use municipal water for cooling. Mainting a Reservoir is extremely expensive for the amount of thermal mass it requires, these things kick off HEAT.