this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2024
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A report from Morgan Stanley suggests the datacenter industry is on track to emit 2.5 billion tons by 2030, which is three times higher than the predictions if generative AI had not come into play.

The extra demand from GenAI will reportedly lead to a rise in emissions from 200 million tons this year to 600 million tons by 2030, thanks largely to the construction of more data centers to keep up with the demand for cloud services.

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[–] [email protected] 82 points 2 months ago (2 children)

When I think "AI will end humanity" I was thinking a sort of Skynet type deal, not... this. Sigh.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago

I mean, global warming us slowly into extinction is a pretty AI way to go about it

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

Oh, this isn't it. Capitalists have been doing this long before AI. Which is why I don't understand why people are attacking AI so hard, tbh.

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 2 months ago (4 children)

the most fucked up part about this is that it's not like regular people account for more than a fraction of the AI usage, most of it is just other companies using it to replace workers or just.. paying for AI usage instead of fucking paying a stock photo company instead..

i hate corporations i hate corporations i hate corporations

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Every negative article I read about AI is simply an attribution to capitalism. It's incredibly funny.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

it's literally just mechanical looms all over again, this shit happens over and over and over and at no point do people learn that this will continue as long as we allow capitalism to persist.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Don't forget the garbage listicle websites which pollute every search for "the best x" where x is something like a vacuum cleaner. Judging by the utter uselessness of search engines these days, there must be A LOT of those sites...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

https://iorate.github.io/ublacklist
this addon has made my search experience so much better

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

You should make a general post about this to promote it. I just installed it, along with the blocklist Nikelui posted below and I've seen a huge difference in my search results. Thank you!

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

Ooo, I'll have to check this out. Thank you

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I actually got into a fight over suggesting someone to use stock photos instead of grungy-smeary AI generated images for their (sh)articles, so at least I won't believe it was too AI generated. Then they insisted on it being their own creation, and how they became an artist through words.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Our planet is literally dying, and humankind is going to be decimated (at least) directly due to the actions of corporations.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

...and all so they can steal our collective content, creativity, and every piece of individual thought or content we've ever communicated online.

.....with the aim of exploiting it to make billionaires richer.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Looks like AI will eliminate any gains we have in climate change. Too bad for us.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Gotta remember that AI is going to solve the climate crisis! \s

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Over time, it is. It's eliminating the source. In Terminator, Matrix, and others they say that the AI took a split second to act, but our AI doesn't have those connections. It's working with what it's got.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

It's scary how our corporate overlords watch all the distopian films and are like: Let's turn that into a reality!

[–] akwd169 2 points 2 months ago

Too bad for us, yeah.

The people benefiting from this have more than enough money to stay comfortable and live a long life if the environment becomes hazardous, deadly and inimical to human life.

It's the masses who will suffer, who will be forced to live in tiny bunkers just to survive and work for the capitalists, never going outside until an extreme weather event wipes them away despite their budget bunker

And the capitalist ruling class will say "oh look more space to expand my summer bunker"

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Love to burn down an acre of rain forest to generate a picture of an ape.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

you wouldn't understand "progress"

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Anything but paying for the labor of a person to draw such a picture.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Or (heaven forbid) learning to draw!

[–] nehal3m 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Or take a selfie, that'll generate a picture of an ape!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

slaver mentality 101

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago

Consider this: climate change is being accelerated at a time when we are overdue to reduce it and what we are getting out of it is plagiarism and wrong answers.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago

Fuck this "AI" shit

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Few months ago it was bitcoin mining. They both need curtailment for other reasons as well.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Maybe the Butlerian Jihad had a point.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (4 children)

God damnit not this swill again. It's not even close to triple, it's like 15%. Read. The. Reports.

For real. Why does this misinformation keep spreading? I have the actual real numbers right in front of me now.

And it's the same as what MIT Technology Review reported and what Google reported publicly.

The EU's CSRD requires most of these companies to disclose their carbon emissions. So just go look it up, ya taints.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You are not thinking cumulatively.

It's not even close to triple, it's like 15%.

1.15^7=2.66

From the article

"emit 2.5 billion tons by 2030, which is three times higher than the predictions if generative AI had not come into play."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Yep absolutely, and even those numbers likely represent raw emissions figures vastly lower than the true impact these data centres are having on global emissions.

For example, that Google report talks about EACs - here's a great podcast episode that explains why these kinds of accounting methods are a complete disaster:

Reveal: It's Not Easy Going Green

https://revealnews.org/podcast/its-not-easy-going-green-update-2023/

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

I build the infrastructure that these data centers need to connect to the internet. Our projected power consumption is at least tripling from last year which was itself double the year before, and that's only the power draw for the fiber optic infrastructure connecting these data centers together. They're also building a ridiculous amount of computing power in those data centers which is another massive increase in power consumption.

There are some kind-of green efforts in progress to mitigate a bit of the environmental impacts of that increase in demand but most of what I have seen personally is just more draw from the local utility company. I have serious doubts about any data that indicates that tripling power consumption is not a major environmental problem.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Could you cite the reports for us?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (6 children)

I am curious who buys generative AI services? The consumers seem to be people making memes or questionable porn with free services. It can't prepare food, unblock drains or tile a bathroom. You can't use it for anything like medicine, law or engineering where you would be professionally liable if it fucks up. How is it sustainable?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

A lot of companies buy it so their employees have acres to it. Like Microsoft 365 copilot for example

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

It's good for making up stories and making suggestions. I worked with chatGPT on how to power up a mothballed Galaxy Class starship. We created the procedure to bring the ship from inert and vacuumed to ready for warp flight.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

My company buys it. No idea what they use it for since I work in IT and I don't use it for anything.

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

And then people were complaining about cryptocurrencies.. Look at this AI joke.. Come on..

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

ow nevermind, bitcoin mining alone is consuming 112.31 TWh annually (it's a guess). While AI is using 29.2 TWh annually (also a guess).

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