Chris Lloyd wrote:

I do not think of AI as anything to do with analytics, even though it grew out of the mathematics and algorithms of predictive machine learning models.

Folks will not stop using LLM's any more than they will stop using plastic bags. We need a technical fix to both of these major problems. More really clean energy (fusion seems on the horizon yet again!) and some truly biodegradable alternative to plastic bags. 

I back humanity to come up with solutions, even though some characterise this assertion as an encouragement to do nothing. It is not. In the meantime, I would have loved to have seen a carbon price.

My point was a broad analytics discussion and I wonder what all those "AI" data centers and models are doing burning all that energy. I wonder conceptually how you would describe the difference between building some big predicitive model using all kinds of methods we all know and love, and training a GPT. And I don't conflate LLMs with AI.

But at least in the past most analytics and burning of huge energy and cooling systems was restricted more to people doing valuable work

And both in the tech world, and the business sector, and the economy and even the media and popular culture people have become much more aware of the huge energy demands and number of Nvidia and other chips used (and possibly wasted) first mining bitcoin, and now being used maybe as a substitute waste of energy training endless LLMs. Apparently there is a an AI bubble and our whole economy and wealth and future financial security involves Nvidia selling more and more chips

And TBH as someone who started my career in AI over 40 years ago I find the current popular marketing and lumping of big data LLM predicitve model analystics as AI rather insulting to AI.

And yes  there has been a huge amount of energy wasted on all kinds of big predicitve models for a long time now. But for some reason the whole economy now depends on the growth of "AI chips"

Sorry Chris I just noticed you mentioned fusion too ( Edit i know Chris meant the sun but wasted energy is wasted energy and while the sun is essentially infinite etc). And Quantum computing is another one. I feel like the old IBM story but I never thought we would have computing power to ever have anything like LLMs to pretend they had any intelligence. Who knows how much energy and technology we will have to waste after I am long gone

Takes me back to Z80 processors, CPM and the excitement of the first PC.

Any thoughts

We all thought we were heading for reduced emissions but along came big data and various other forms of massive processing applications

What can we do

Energy, water etc

PS I am no hypocrite. I seriously use all those LLMs for really important tasks every day