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submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by gerikson@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems

HN reacts to a New Yorker piece on the "obscene energy demands of AI" with exactly the same arguments coiners use when confronted with the energy cost of blockchain - the product is valuable in of itself, demands for more energy will spur investment in energy generation, and what about the energy costs of painting oil on canvas, hmmmmmm??????

Maybe it's just my newness antennae needing calibrating, but I do feel the extreme energy requirements for what's arguably just a frivolous toy is gonna cause AI boosters big problems, especially as energy demands ramp up in the US in the warmer months. Expect the narrative to adjust to counter it.

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[-] dgerard@awful.systems 13 points 11 months ago

"AI" is a marketing term for various at best slightly related technologies. If you mean LLMs or whatever, you'd need to be specific else you're not even defining the goalposts before setting them up with wheels.

[-] 200fifty@awful.systems 10 points 11 months ago

yeah, I definitely think machine learning has obvious use cases to benefit the common good (youtube auto captions being Actually Pretty Decent Now is one that comes to mind easily) but I'm much less certain about most of the stuff being presently marketed as "AI"

[-] dgerard@awful.systems 6 points 11 months ago
[-] gerikson@awful.systems 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Can you tell me more about why you're pretty cool with ELIZA? 😉

[-] dgerard@awful.systems 9 points 11 months ago

we're talking about you not me. come come elucidate your thoughts. can you elaborate on that?

[-] froztbyte@awful.systems 9 points 11 months ago

(meta: has any llm actually exceeded this level of engagement? I can't recall seeing a single example. some changes in the sophistication of the language perhaps, but otherwise nothing)

[-] Lmaydev@programming.dev 2 points 11 months ago

AI is the name of the field of study. It has existed since the 60s. LLMs are neural networks one of the first and most widely used forms of AI.

[-] mawhrin@awful.systems 10 points 11 months ago

how come the reply humans from programming dot dev have always the daftest takes?

[-] self@awful.systems 8 points 11 months ago
[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 8 points 11 months ago

It's not even the right decade; the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence was in 1956.

[-] froztbyte@awful.systems 4 points 11 months ago

rubber duck replying, with a stuck posting key

this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024
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