Poll shows Americans are increasingly alarmed by AI's ecological footprint(www.aljazeera.com)

5 pointsby billybuckwheat5 hours ago1 comment

verdverm5 hours ago
there are numerous examples of things that are worse, one is golf, more water and chemicals sprayed directly into the ecosystem
where's the outrage? there is lower hanging fruit with more return on effort
- ericmay5 hours ago
  There actually have been a lot of consternation regarding golf, but at least people are out exercising and having fun and stuff. It's not all bad. Personally I think the main issue with respect to water is the usage and usage at lower or even at market rates when perhaps they should be charging more. But if you do that, prices go up, less accessibility of the sport and then you get in trouble for being only a rich person sport. Nobody really can win there.
  But I think a better question is, why aren't the Chinese increasingly alarmed by AI data centers and their impact on the environment? Or are they?
  - seanmcdirmid4 hours ago
    I think they are, it just doesn't appear as often. They are also limited by the chips they can get (limiting what power they can bring to bear), and also have NO PROBLEM building new power plants or other kinds of infrastructure (unlike the USA). Honestly, the biggest problem is water, since their renewable west lacks it, but even then they can just setup a data center to use more energy to substitute for less water usage.
  - verdverm4 hours ago
    The Chinese are rebuilding their electric grid to be all renewable. It will take a couple more decades, but they are literally printing energy like we print processors.
    Some other initiatives that incline me to believe the CCP has an amount of care and concern for their people are the trash incinerator build out and the health care ambitions. Generally speaking though, on average, the non-West countries seem far more optimistic about the future with Ai than we do.
    ericmay4 hours ago
    > The Chinese are rebuilding their electric grid to be all renewable. It will take a couple more decades, but they are literally printing energy like we print processors.
    Sure but decades will leave them very very very very far behind in the AI race so they'll still have to experience price increases before then. Plus even if they do build capacity that has cost that has to be recouped somehow.
    verdverm2 hours ago
    > very very very very far behind in the Ai
    one "very" for every month?
    They are deploying renewables on a scale that is hard to fathom, they have plenty of electricity across all sources for Ai, EVs, and Robots. What they aim to be is fully renewable (no fossil fuels) within a couple of decades
    ericmay10 minutes ago
    > one "very" for every month?
    No, you missed the point and you're now conflating AI capability with infrastructure cost.
- gamessucknow5 hours ago
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  - verdverm4 hours ago
    true, reap what you sow