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submitted 1 month ago by JRepin@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.ml

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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[-] taiyang@lemmy.world 80 points 1 month ago

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

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

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

[-] ampersandcastles@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 month ago

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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[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 72 points 1 month ago

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

[-] ampersandcastles@lemmy.ml 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 month 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.

[-] stormeuh@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

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...

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 month ago

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

[-] Bob_Robertson_IX@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month 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!

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[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month 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.

[-] prole 3 points 1 month ago

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

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[-] MyOpinion@lemm.ee 51 points 1 month ago

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

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 1 month ago

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

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 13 points 1 month ago

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.

[-] theshatterstone54@feddit.uk 8 points 1 month ago

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

[-] akwd169@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month 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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[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 44 points 1 month ago

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

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 24 points 1 month ago

you wouldn't understand "progress"

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 month ago

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

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

Or (heaven forbid) learning to draw!

[-] nehal3m@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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

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[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 5 points 1 month ago

slaver mentality 101

[-] PanArab@lemm.ee 32 points 1 month 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.

[-] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago

Fuck this "AI" shit

[-] kersplomp@programming.dev 25 points 1 month ago

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.

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago

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."

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[-] krashmo@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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.

[-] kersplomp@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago

If you're the one working on this infrastructure, then why are the reports saying that it's only 13%? Are you guys lying on the forms?

[-] krashmo@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

I have no idea where that data comes from and that's exactly the point I'm making. It doesn't match my personal experience at all.

[-] isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago

Could you cite the reports for us?

[-] CliveRosfield@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Something something AI BAD, didn’t read.

[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 month ago

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

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 10 points 1 month ago

Maybe the Butlerian Jihad had a point.

[-] shirro@aussie.zone 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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?

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 1 month 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.

[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago
[-] waspentalive@lemmy.one 3 points 1 month 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.

[-] B0rax@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago

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

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[-] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 7 points 1 month ago

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

[-] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 4 points 1 month ago

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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[-] blazera@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I doubt the data centers are generating much of any co2. Fossil fuel power plants are.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 6 points 1 month ago

then why are data centers using these fossil fuel power plants?

why are they getting lower rates to use them than an individual taxpayer?

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[-] jsomae@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

U.S. vehicles currently emit 2 billion tons. So that's very bad news.

However -- I think 2030 is waaay too far in the future to predict anything about AI.

[-] delirious_owl@discuss.online 3 points 1 month ago

Uhh, soo many datacenters run off wind. So this is pretty disingenuous

[-] zout@fedia.io 13 points 1 month ago

Tell me about it. In the Netherlands wind farms are built, and, on paper, these datacenter companies buy up all of the energy from them. Meanwhile, the reason why these wind farms were built is to burn less fossil fuels, but that won't work now because of all the extra energy consumption.

[-] delirious_owl@discuss.online 2 points 1 month ago

You mean wind turbines.

This is a good thing. So wind turbine companies take that money and use it to build more wind turbines

[-] zout@fedia.io 8 points 1 month ago

What you call a good thing, I call green washing.

[-] spongebue@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

If everything is running on renewables, cool. Until then, there's still the opportunity cost.

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this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2024
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