this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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So it is and remains an unavoidable problem with frivolous AI use for the foreseeable future?
No, because there are already locations in the world where clean grids exist. Focusing on AI use as an environmental problem is not helpful. Focus on the source of the energy, not it's uses.
How many AI data centers are in the countries that have clean grids, as opposed to the US?
“Please don’t pay attention to the gorilla setting the house on fire, just give the gorilla a better source of fuel.”
“Also, that guy over there is using a magnifying glass to light paper on fire, ignore me using napalm since fire is just fire”
If you place a data center in a 100% green location, then you're reducing the supply of 100% energy, so everything else has to consume less green energy. Therefore, by using 100% green energy you just increased your carbon footprint.
Green energy, like all resources, is limited. If you waste it on a glorified food predictor you can't use it on a electric harvester that will feed the people.
Even if you want to avoid this problem and create your own green power plant for your own data center (creating the green supply and demand at the same time), you are still spending green energy resources (rare metals and manufacturing capacity) that went into creating your powerplant instead of creating a powerplant for electric harvesters.
There's no way around it. Misusing electricity is accelerating climate change, one way or another. Even if the energy you are misusing is 100% green.