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

  • pyre@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    28 days ago

    it won’t if you don’t force it to. that’s like saying companies will pollute less if you give them enough time. no, you have to grab their balls and force them to do it.

    • XIIIesq@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      28 days ago

      I think it’s fair to say that pretty much every industry is more efficient and cleaner than it used to be and I don’t see why AI would be an exception to that.

        • areyouevenreal@lemm.eeEnglish
          2·
          28 days ago

          Mainly because energy and data centers are both expensive and companies want to use as little as possible of both - especially on the energy side. OpenAI isn’t exactly profitable. There is a reason companies like Microsoft release smaller models like Phi-2 that can be run on individual devices rather than data centers.

        • XIIIesq@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          28 days ago

          Is the insinuation here that the AI industry is unregulated? Because I’m not against regulations that would drive these improvements.

      • pyre@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        28 days ago

        i think you’re not thinking about what efficiency means for corporations.

        • XIIIesq@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          28 days ago

          I think it’s exactly what I’m thinking about, unless I’m missing something specific that you’d like to put forward?

          If I own a bottled drinks company and the energy cost is 10p a bottle but a new, more efficient process is invented that would lower my energy cost to 5p a bottle, that’s going to be looking like a wise investment to make. A few pence over several thousand products adds up pretty quickly.

          I could either pocket the difference as extra profit, lower my unit price to the consumer to make my product more competitive in the market, or a bit of both.