Climate Change

Out of context: Reply #563

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  • palimpsest2

    # Would You Download a Car?

    AI is often labeled as energy-intensive, but most of its environmental impact comes from the initial *training* process, not everyday use. Here’s how AI energy use compares to traditional transportation and why its unique setup changes the equation. Using AI is roughly on par with other high-computation tasks like video streaming.

    ## AI’s Energy Costs: Training vs. Inference

    - **Training**: Building large models (e.g., GPT-4) requires vast energy, similar to powering thousands of households for days. Training occurs only once per model version.
    - **Inference (per prompt)**: Each prompt has a much lower energy footprint, similar to briefly running an LED light. This makes the high training energy cost spread across millions of interactions.

    **Analogy**: Imagine every car trip counted not only the fuel but also the energy used to make the car *and* build the factory. This is how AI’s upfront training cost gets distributed across each prompt.

    ## Apples to Apples Comparison

    - **Driving (per km)**: A car consumes around 440 watt-hours per kilometer, comparable to thousands of AI prompts.
    - **Flying (per km)**: A plane uses about 5,000 watt-hours per passenger-km, similar to tens of thousands of prompts per kilometer.
    - **Inference Efficiency**: Unlike transportation, which needs fresh energy each trip, AI spreads its training investment over countless low-energy prompts.

    Made *with* ChatGPT

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    • i refuse to accept that the thing i don't like isn't the problemkingsteven
    • countless low energy prompts ? lol... very esoteric... if a.i cant even count how much its uses... very dissapoint.. numbers how do they work..neverscared
    • fuckin hell chatgpt is about the worst shit...neverscared
    • the one thing its superior its missing out... keepin track of its own calculation trajectories...neverscared
    • *countless* means that it cannot be counted. Each time we prompt it the training investment is spread out even more.
      #hooked on phonics      palimpsest
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