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Comment by dsalfdslfdsa

1 year ago

"Efficient" and "better" are very different descriptors of a learning algorithm.

The human brain does what it does using about 20W. LLM power usage is somewhat unfavourable compared to that.

You mean energy-efficient, this would be neuron, or synapse-efficient.

  • Also, these two networks achieves vastly different results, per watt consumed. A NN creates a painting in 4s on my M2 MacBook; an artist in 4 hours. Are their used joules equivalent? How many humans would it take to simulate MacOS?

    Horsepower comparisons here are nuanced and fatally tricky!

    • Humans aren't able to project an image from their neurons onto a disk like ANNs can, if they could it would also be very fast. That 4 hour estimate includes all the mechanical problems of manipulating paint.

    • What software are you using for local NN generation of paintings? Even so, the training cost of that NN is significant.

      The general point is valid though - for example, a computer is much more efficient at finding primes, or encrypting data, than humans.

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It is using about 20W and then a person takes a single airplane ride between the coasts. And watches a movie on the way.