5 ms·

I wonder when the environmentalists will realize what is going on right now, and start to protest AI usage in general. I was already wondering the same when th

by lynx23 2y ago

I wonder when the environmentalists will realize what is going on right now, and start to protest AI usage in general. I was already wondering the same when the open source community started to CI every damn PR and commit, but I guess I was too optimistic with that one.

HPsquared 2y ago
Windows Update is another big one, the way it makes every Windows computer spin the fans like crazy on a regular basis. Probably room for improvement there.
- bayindirh 2y ago
  For Microsoft's credit, Windows has systems in place to install your updates when you're powered by more renewables than fossil fuels [0]. [0]: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-update-is-now-carbon-aware-a53f39bc-5531-4bb1-9e78-db38d7a6df20 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-update-i...
  - blibble 2y ago
    maybe they could just make the software not be completely shit instead ? why does Windows take 2 minutes to decide what updates to install, then 45 minutes to install them when Debian on the same machine can do both in under 30 seconds?
    - deafpolygon 2y ago
      ... *puts tin foil hat on* ... let me tell you a story...
Ma8ee 2y ago
We are aware. AI at least have the potential to create some value, which can’t be said about crypto currencies that still waste enormous resources.
- bayindirh 2y ago
  I don't want to sound skeptical, but this is what Crypto people used to say when it was very new. It was supposedly worth all the power expenditure, because changing the world needed energy. Now we see where we are. I'm inside this "newfangled AI thing". There are groups which create value, but they create value for everybody. The humans and the nature in general, and they use AI for scientific ends. Medical image processing, ecosystem monitoring, etc. etc. Letting bots loose on the internet, letting them consume what they say and making them answer "Sauce is a food taste enhancer, and dressing is used to keep wounds clean while allowing them to heal. A standard serving of a dressing is two spoons".
  - turtles3 2y ago
    To be fair, newer research is demonstrating that smaller more power efficient models with the same performance are possible, so the hope is that these giant LLMs are just a stepping stone to a less energy hungry place. In contrast, proof of work fundamentally needs more energy then bigger the network gets. It's no guarantee but we can at least see some hope that as energy impact drops and increasing value is found that 'AI' will cross the threshold of being worth the energy. Edit: although yes I do agree that the 'value' part is tricky. If internet spam can generate more 'value' for some people than doing science, then when intelligence is cheap we are in for a rough time.
    - bayindirh 2y ago
      To be clear, I'm not against AI or LLM as a technology in general. What I'm against is the unethical way how these LLMs trained and how people are dismissive of the damage they're doing and saying "we're doing something amazing, we need no permission". Also, I'm very aware that there are many smaller models in production which can run real-time with negligible power and memory requirements (i.e. see human/animal detection models in mirrorless cameras, esp. Sony and Fuji). However, to be honest I didn't see the same research on LLMs yet. Can you share if you have any, because I'd be glad to read them. Lastly, I'm aware that AI is not something only covers object detection, NLP, etc. You can create very useful and light AI systems for many problems, but how LLMs pumped with that unstopping hype machine bothers me a lot.
renewiltord 2y ago
[flagged]
sAbakumoff 2y ago
>> I wonder when the environmentalists will realize what is going on right now, and start to protest AI usage in general. Never, in just 2-3 months we will have much, much bigger problems
- lynx23 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - sAbakumoff 2y ago
    why do you try labeling me without knowing ANYTHING about me? This starts to feel like mental illness.
topaz0 2y ago
Already boycotting.

by lynx23 2y ago

HPsquared 2y ago

Windows Update is another big one, the way it makes every Windows computer spin the fans like crazy on a regular basis. Probably room for improvement there.

bayindirh 2y ago
For Microsoft's credit, Windows has systems in place to install your updates when you're powered by more renewables than fossil fuels [0]. [0]: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-update-is-now-carbon-aware-a53f39bc-5531-4bb1-9e78-db38d7a6df20 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-update-i...
- blibble 2y ago
  maybe they could just make the software not be completely shit instead ? why does Windows take 2 minutes to decide what updates to install, then 45 minutes to install them when Debian on the same machine can do both in under 30 seconds?
  - deafpolygon 2y ago
    ... *puts tin foil hat on* ... let me tell you a story...

Ma8ee 2y ago

We are aware. AI at least have the potential to create some value, which can’t be said about crypto currencies that still waste enormous resources.

bayindirh 2y ago
I don't want to sound skeptical, but this is what Crypto people used to say when it was very new. It was supposedly worth all the power expenditure, because changing the world needed energy. Now we see where we are. I'm inside this "newfangled AI thing". There are groups which create value, but they create value for everybody. The humans and the nature in general, and they use AI for scientific ends. Medical image processing, ecosystem monitoring, etc. etc. Letting bots loose on the internet, letting them consume what they say and making them answer "Sauce is a food taste enhancer, and dressing is used to keep wounds clean while allowing them to heal. A standard serving of a dressing is two spoons".
- turtles3 2y ago
  To be fair, newer research is demonstrating that smaller more power efficient models with the same performance are possible, so the hope is that these giant LLMs are just a stepping stone to a less energy hungry place. In contrast, proof of work fundamentally needs more energy then bigger the network gets. It's no guarantee but we can at least see some hope that as energy impact drops and increasing value is found that 'AI' will cross the threshold of being worth the energy. Edit: although yes I do agree that the 'value' part is tricky. If internet spam can generate more 'value' for some people than doing science, then when intelligence is cheap we are in for a rough time.
  - bayindirh 2y ago
    To be clear, I'm not against AI or LLM as a technology in general. What I'm against is the unethical way how these LLMs trained and how people are dismissive of the damage they're doing and saying "we're doing something amazing, we need no permission". Also, I'm very aware that there are many smaller models in production which can run real-time with negligible power and memory requirements (i.e. see human/animal detection models in mirrorless cameras, esp. Sony and Fuji). However, to be honest I didn't see the same research on LLMs yet. Can you share if you have any, because I'd be glad to read them. Lastly, I'm aware that AI is not something only covers object detection, NLP, etc. You can create very useful and light AI systems for many problems, but how LLMs pumped with that unstopping hype machine bothers me a lot.

renewiltord 2y ago

[flagged]

sAbakumoff 2y ago

>> I wonder when the environmentalists will realize what is going on right now, and start to protest AI usage in general. Never, in just 2-3 months we will have much, much bigger problems

lynx23 2y ago
[flagged]
- sAbakumoff 2y ago
  why do you try labeling me without knowing ANYTHING about me? This starts to feel like mental illness.

topaz0 2y ago

Already boycotting.