Comment by jes5199
5 days ago
the “environmental costs” argument is based upon like fifteen false assumptions. by 2030, AI will be running almost entirely on solar+wind+battery, because that is by far the cheapest option
5 days ago
the “environmental costs” argument is based upon like fifteen false assumptions. by 2030, AI will be running almost entirely on solar+wind+battery, because that is by far the cheapest option
> by 2030, AI will be running almost entirely on solar+wind+battery
Bullshit.
Even if this was true (and so far that doesn't seem to be the case), that's not how commodities work.
You can't just measure how much your thing uses, because even if it was running purely on green energy you also have to keep in mind other consumers that end up displaced onto worse sources. The only fair way to measure this is by the worst generator on your grid, because that's who would be shut down w/o your demand.
And even if we assume that the entire grid was green, building out that capacity also has (environmental) costs! As does producing those GPUs, for that matter.
there will be _less_ fossil fuel use, globally, in 2030 than there is today, and AI will not be a significant reason that changes in either direction.
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