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[-] Damage@feddit.it 71 points 4 days ago

If their energy consumption actually was so small, why are they seeking to use nuclear reactors to power data centres now?

[-] null@lemmy.nullspace.lol 26 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Because demand for data centers is rising, with AI as just one of many reasons.

But that's not as flashy as telling people it takes the energy of a small country to make a picture of a cat.

Also interesting that we're ignoring something here -- big tech is chasing cheap sources of clean energy. Don't we want cheap, clean energy?

[-] boor@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

AI is the driver of the parabolic spike in global data center buildouts. No other use case comes close in terms of driving new YoY growth in tech infra capex spend.

[-] Dojan@pawb.social 12 points 3 days ago

Sure we do. Do we want the big tech corporations to hold the reins of that though?

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

If cheap(er/better) energy is invented then that's good, why would tech corpos be able to "hold the reins" of it exclusively?

[-] Dojan@pawb.social 2 points 2 days ago

Well, patents and what have you are a thing. I’m mostly thinking that I wouldn’t want e.g. Facebook to run any nuclear reactors or energy grids. That’s something I prefer the government does.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Nuclear reactors already exist, that's not new tech.

[-] Dojan@pawb.social 1 points 26 minutes ago

I’m not saying it is. I’m saying that predatory companies shouldn’t run critical infrastructure.

[-] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 15 points 3 days ago

Didn’t xitter just install a gas powered data center that’s breaking EPA rules for emissions?

[-] TomArrr@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

Yes, yes it did. And as far as I can tell, it's still belching it out, just so magats can keep getting owned by it. What a world

https://tennesseelookout.com/2025/07/07/a-billionaire-an-ai-supercomputer-toxic-emissions-and-a-memphis-community-that-did-nothing-wrong/

[-] Imacat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 4 days ago

To be fair, nuclear power is cool as fuck and would reduce the carbon footprint of all sorts of bullshit.

[-] Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

Volume of requests and power consumption requirements unrelated to requests made, at least I have to assume. Certainly doesn't help that google has forced me to make a request to their ai every time I run a standard search.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 20 points 4 days ago

Seriously. I'd be somewhat less concerned about the impact if it was only voluntarily used. Instead, AI is compulsively shoved in every nook and cranny of digital product simply to justify its own existence.

The power requirement for training is ongoing, since mere days after Sam Altman released a very underehelming GPT-5, he begins hyping up the next one.

[-] zlatko@programming.dev 5 points 3 days ago

I also never saw a calculation that took into amount my VPS costs. The fckers scrape half the internet, warming up every server in the world connected to the internet. How much energy is that?

this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2025
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