this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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Data is Beautiful

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Global Al water use by 2027 is predicted to be 4.2-6.6bn cubic metres, equivalent to half of UK's total annual water consumption (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 days ago by nimomycelium to c/dataisbeautiful
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[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Blockchain currencies and now 'AI' (glorified pattern matchers)... I wonder what the next huge energy/resource sink grift will be? I want to know so I can get in early, make a zillion and dump before everyone realizes how stupid and wasteful it all was.

What pisses me off is that LLMs are such a brute-force 'solution' that goes against one of the major goals of Computer Science -- to find algorithms that take less time and energy, instead of just throwing more compute cycles at things.

Hell, blockchain at least had a mathematical justification for why it needed such huge compute/power resources (proof of work).

[–] lukstru 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I agree that LLMs being used as they are is a major waste. However, I don't think it goes against any goals of CS. Computer Science has traditionally followed this pattern: discover a solution that works, enhance it, and then repeat the process as needed. Transformers are the newest best solution for some NLP tasks, and a hype was created. We'll be back to the enhance phase shortly. Hopefully with a little less overhype and more consideration this time.

[–] hoshikarakitaridia 4 points 5 days ago

Totally agree with this take.

The hype has been there everytime we discovered something big. Only this time the hype overshadows the discovery a bit. Doesn't mean we shouldn't expect our scientific progress to revert back to this known pattern again.

[–] synapse1278 7 points 5 days ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but AI doesn't consume drinkable water. It's used for cooling. What UK water consumption are we talking about here ? Is it the total water consumption including farming and industrial, or just fresh water ? What is the source for this information?

I also believe that the AI craz is wasteful usage of precision ressources. But I find this data rather lacking in details.

[–] Agent641 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Can we just give them coke Zero instead?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

consumes water in the same way your car radiator, or liquid cooled pc does. I.e. t doesn't

[–] lemmus 5 points 6 days ago

Let the Water Wars begin.

[–] Kyrgizion 3 points 6 days ago

This is fine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Consumers: which product should I buy that gives big corporations more money to fuck up the planet?

Uh, maybe try not to buy it or look for an ethical brand?

Consumers: nah, too much work. I'll get a BIG BRAND phone so that I can fit in.

Also consumers: WHY IS THE PLANET BEING FUCKED BY CORPORATIONS!?!??!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

To blame the consumers at this point you either have to be a paid shill by the corporations or completely oblivious keyboard warrior.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 days ago

Bitten dogs bark.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

It's less about the water use and more that it's all at boiling temperature.