I can tell that this question comes from a sincere desire to minimize the harm that we know can be done through your personal interactions with AI software. quite resource-intensiveBut first, step back with me for a moment and free yourself of the guilt of existence.
I bet you're great avid recycler Too? Is there someone who knows a lot about different types of plastics and sorts everything out religiously like a sensible citizen?
Although this is a great practice in theory, your recyclables may actually be incinerated, buried in a landfill, or thrown into the ocean. This is because waste-management sites cannot process many types of plastics, and the flood of waste generated in our society is too overwhelming for our existing systems to deal with. So, in the case of plastic recycling, our intentions as consumers are good, but the actions we take are often little more than a daily ritual, thereby absolving ourselves of the guilt of participating in that system. Which contributes to it. pollution,
personally it might feel good right now exit out Avoid using energy-intensive generic AI software whenever possible. Still, you may not be able to avoid it forever. Yours future job The AI may be augmented in some way that is deemed critical to your performance, and you will have no choice but to let it suck up the power and resources so you can get your work done. Sincerely, the innings of the last decade cloud storage There have been profound changes in our approach to computing as a society, and I don't know anyone who is morally conflicted about the number of photos clogging up their Apple iCloud storage. The reality is that individual, consumer decisions have less impact on the world than we often want to think.
Although I doubt that individual users avoiding AI tools will have a significant impact on the environment, that doesn't mean the future is bleak! If anything, I think you should call your government representatives and express your perspective as someone who uses AI and is concerned about the impact of the technology on the long-term health of our planet. Assuming that tech companies will continue to build massive data center– And they are – we should at least emphasize sustainable infrastructure, such as onsite renewable energy generation and reduced water consumption by computer cooling systems. The public deserves greater transparency about how vast amounts of resources are consumed by these private sites that power our AI tools.
At your service,
reece
Looking for advice on how to navigate the world of artificial intelligence tools? Submit any questions you'd like Reece Rogers to answer mail@wired.comand use the subject line prompt,