We can see that this question comes from an honest desire to reduce the harm caused through personal interactions with AI software. This has proven to be very resource intensive. But first, please join me in taking a step back and freeing yourself from the guilt of existence.
Do you consider yourself an avid recycler too? Are you someone who knows so much about different types of plastic that you can religiously categorize everything like a good citizen?
While this is good practice in theory, it can actually result in recyclable items being incinerated, buried in landfills, or thrown into the ocean. This is because waste management sites cannot handle many types of plastic, and the flood of trash our society produces is too large for current systems to handle. So in the case of plastic recycling, our intentions as consumers are legitimate, but the actions we take are often daily rituals to absolve ourselves of the guilt of participating in a system that contributes to pollution. It’s just that.
Now, you may feel it’s a good idea to personally opt out of using energy-intensive generative AI software if possible. However, it may not be possible to avoid it forever. Your future job is likely to be enhanced by AI in some way that you deem important to your performance, leaving you with no choice but to let AI consume power and resources to get the job done. Let’s be honest: The move to cloud storage over the past decade has radically changed the way we approach computing as a society. I don’t know anyone who is ethically conflicted about having tons of photos stuck in their Apple iCloud storage. In reality, individual consumer decisions have less impact on the world than we think.
We are skeptical that discouraging individual users from using AI tools will have a significant environmental impact, but that doesn’t mean the future is bleak. Rather, I think we should call our government representatives to express our views as someone who uses AI and is concerned about the impact this technology will have on the long-term health of our planet. Assuming that tech companies continue to build huge data centers (and they are), we will at least be able to reduce the amount of water consumed by on-site renewable energy generation and computer cooling systems. We need to promote sustainable infrastructure, including the reduction of The public needs more transparency about how vast amounts of resources are being consumed on these private sites that power AI tools.
With your service,
lease
Looking for advice on how to navigate the world of artificial intelligence tools? If you have a question you’d like Reece Rogers to answer, send it to mail@wired.com with “The Prompt” in the subject line. please.
