305
Can't believe I made this without ChatGPT (lemmy.zip)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by callouscomic@lemmy.zip to c/memes@sopuli.xyz
34 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Inspired by another post.

Quick sources.

According to Google, a single search requires about 0.0003 kWh of energy.

https://www.rwdigital.ca/blog/how-much-energy-do-google-search-and-chatgpt-use/

Each ChatGPT query consumes an estimated 2.9 Wh of electricity...

https://balkangreenenergynews.com/chatgpt-consumes-enough-power-in-one-year-to-charge-over-three-million-electric-cars/

Edit: I'm an idiot for not even considering conversions. I simply pasted the numbers from the sources. Apologies.

0.0003 kWh is 0.3 Wh, and 2.9 Wh is 0.0029 kWh.

I think the regular search is effectively one-tenth a chatgpt prompt.

...according to a simple calculator, and a lot of commenters who've now accidentally made this funnier.

I'm not an electrician.

Okay, after some more rabbling, here's some edits. Take your pick:

top 34 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] turbowafflz@lemmy.world 131 points 4 days ago

It bothers me so much that the two numbers are in different units

[-] Skua@kbin.earth 76 points 4 days ago

0.0003 of anything should not be measured in kilo-units

[-] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 days ago

While I do agree with you, kWh is what's on my electric bill. Meaning it's easier to relate to.

I guess it should have been expressed in base unit without SI-prefix. Because writing 0.3x10^-3 kWh just seem silly.

[-] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Hmm, great point. I simply copied the figures from the sources. I dunno why I didn't consider converting one of them.

Edited post to add conversions. Thank you.

But now I just think the meme is even funnier for a new accidental reason.

[-] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 days ago

I thought the joke was about people not being able to convert. It took a couple of clock cycles on the old meat CPU to figure out that it was an anti AI meme.

[-] NochMehrG@feddit.org 5 points 4 days ago

Samesies

[-] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 77 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

For context, 0.0003 kWh are 0.3 Wh, i.e. ten times less than a ChatGPT query.

[-] MudMan@fedia.io 29 points 4 days ago

The unit bullshittery going on in this meme is frying my brain. I need a nap.

If I can stay awake long enough maybe I can work out how this works. My PC burns around 500Wh under load, so the time I just spent playing Abyssus was burning about 3 GPT searches a minute, by that estimation. It's still much less than 30, and I can probably figure whatever I'm looking for in much less than that, but still.

I wonder if it's supposed to be better or worse if I decide to burn all that at home by running a local LLM. I don't think my GPU is more power efficient than their data centers, and it'd almost certainly run longer than 20 seconds, but I do have pretty green power sources in this area and it is air cooled.

I guess it depends on whether my office gets hot enough to make me turn on the AC.

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 22 points 4 days ago

0.0003 Wh are 0.3 Wh

A- for trying

[-] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 13 points 4 days ago

LOL dammit, fixed

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

While we're at it: Ten times less shouldn't be a thing.

Ten percent, 0.1 times, a tenth ...

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

wait, you never walk up downstairs?

[-] EisFrei@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

When multiplying by a number bigger than one, I expect the result to be bigger, not smaller. Simple as that.

[-] Brahvim@lemmy.kde.social 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

...Yeah, but also digits after decimal exist.

[-] OpenPassageways@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

Would be great if the AI bubble caused investments in the electric grid and renewable energy and then popped.

[-] sigezayaq@startrek.website 3 points 3 days ago

You don’t take into account that Google made its search worse on purpose and now you have to make two or more queries to find what you need.

[-] lime@feddit.nu 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

now calculate how much power this meme took to make. or how much power all the page views take.

the easiest reference for this stuff is how much more efficient a thing is compared to an old-fashioned lightbulb. The standard lightbulb is 50W, which means leaving it on for an hour consumes 50Wh. so with that amount of energy, you could do 15 chatgpt prompts. or 150 regular searches. or run your (1500W) vacuum cleaner for two minutes. or rev your car for 1.8 seconds, assuming your engine is around 130bhp.

[-] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

One of the sources I linked literally gave you your lightbulb answer, but you didn't check. You just went straight to some kind of mansplaining.

Also, it's a fucking meme. I don't give that much of a shit.

[-] lime@feddit.nu 2 points 3 days ago

it's called "rambling".

also, it's about perspective.

[-] djmikeale@feddit.dk 8 points 4 days ago

I look up recipes a lot, would love to know the actual cost of visiting a site, given all of the JavaScript and cookies, tracking, images etc that has to be loaded, that I don't really care about

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

I use it to help figure out the order to cook things like stir frys with whatever ingredients I happen to have, which is an improvement over my previous "just throw it all in and stop when I feel like it's time to eat then wonder why the meat is so tough".

It also helped me figure out that I've been steaming food instead of frying it for a long time. Though my cooking got a lot messier when I corrected that and I went from never burning anything to occasionally burning some things.

[-] hungryphrog 3 points 3 days ago

And chances are that option 2 gives you misinformation, and of course doesn't cite sources.

[-] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 4 days ago

Are they not the same number?

[-] LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago

Different by one decimal place.

[-] arsCynic@beehaw.org 5 points 4 days ago

I feel like ⅒ is a gross overestimation and regular search engines should consume at least 100 times less than GPTs.

[-] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

Ah, well, good thing your feeling is more important than any potential source of actual data.

[-] arsCynic@beehaw.org 1 points 3 days ago

Ah, well, good thing your feeling is more important than any potential source of actual data.

That's not at all what it says; sarcasm is uncalled for.

[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 4 points 4 days ago

Next time try making the meme without a pedophile.

[-] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Next time try making the meme without a pedophile.

Got it. I won't make a meme with you next time.

[-] FreudianCafe@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 days ago

The error with the measuring units is so grotesque it looks like bad faith to ride the AI bad wave but who knows

[-] rozlav 1 points 4 days ago

anyone wanna correct it then ? I currently don't have computer for this, maybe there is android foss meme maker app though ?

[-] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

New free DLC options added!

this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2025
305 points (100.0% liked)

Memes

11915 readers
911 users here now

Post memes here.

A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.

An Internet meme or meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. The name is by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations.

Laittakaa meemejä tänne.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
QuentinCallaghan@sopuli.xyz
seahorse@midwest.social
graphito@sopuli.xyz