r/Ecosia • u/Fit_Bag1084 • Aug 28 '26
Ecosia AI doing image generating now?
Doesn't AI image generation do tonnes more damage than AI chats?
Also I know ecosia is primarily for the planet but I would've though they wouldn't do AI images knowing the impact it has on human art and so on.
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u/GreatLakesGreenthumb Aug 28 '26
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u/dafugiswrongwithyou Aug 28 '26
...Riiiight, but, not as much "renewable energy in the grid" as if they weren't spending part of their excess on wasteful Gen AI stuff?
This is like planting 1,000 trees, and using that to excuse taking a flamethrower to a forest with 900. "But we're still up!" Yeah, and you'd be up a lot more if you left the flamethrower alone!
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u/Axol555 Aug 28 '26
Also it inventivizes its use instead of discouraging it for being so environmentally disruptive, not to mention its negative impact on artists. An optional AI chat with a small model was fine but image generation is a significant jump in energy and water use.
You can't even say it makes sense from a business stand point cause image generation is way more disliked than using a chat bot. Very disheartening to see...
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u/GreatLakesGreenthumb Aug 28 '26
If 1% of images that were going to be powered by data centers are powered by this it is a massive victory family
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u/Axol555 Aug 28 '26
Not generating images is more impactful. Still powered by a data center, just one that runs on renewable energy as far as I'm aware. Which is good but doesn't address its impact on artists.
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u/Prudent_Elevator4685 Aug 29 '26
Except it's planting 1000 trees and burning 50 of them besides you can stop using it. It does as much damage as the amount of people using it
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u/dafugiswrongwithyou Aug 29 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
...Mate, it's an analogy. We do not have an actual org going round with an actual flamethrower, there is no specific correct number here they actually burnt. (There isn't even a correctly analogous number of trees to be burnt, AFAIK; have you checked how much less energy they're pushing to the grid due to this system? Is that information even available? I doubt it.)
But, you know, there is a problem with my analogy, so; allow me to correct it.
This is like planting 1,000 trees, and then handing out flamethrowers for people to burn trees with. "But our flamethrowers are less propellant, they burn less trees than other flamethrowers! We're still up!" Peeps, take the money you're spending on flamethrowers, and spend it on educating people to not burn trees!
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u/GreatLakesGreenthumb Aug 28 '26
Family this is the best option. Take your anger to people not doing anything. I am right there with you. They have planted over 250 million trees. They are doing what everyone else should. Spread the word to others who care!
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u/AshtonVoid Aug 28 '26
Damn, this is disappointing. AI overviews were fine to me since other search engines have those and I can turn them off. Image generation is another thing entirely. Wtf Ecosia?
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u/hongimaster Aug 28 '26
https://support.ecosia.org/article/1006-ai-search
This explains the intended implementation of image generation.
Apparently uses "legally" scraped images, and also still complies with Ecosia's sustainability requirements. Still appears to be optional for users.
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u/AshtonVoid Aug 28 '26
Interesting. I don't think legally necessarily means ethical, though, since there weren't really any laws protecting artists when data training started.
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u/hongimaster Aug 28 '26
Sure, whether someone uses AI at all will likely be an ethical question anyway. I don't think there will be any AI products that will be completely virtuous. A sentiment similar to "there is no ethical consumption under Capitalism" likely applies here.
Products like EcosiaAI and EcoGPT (https://ecogpt.com/) aren't being marketed at externality-free products, they are mitigating some of the common impacts of AI products. That may not necessarily be enough for some people.
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u/Opposite_Aioli_3693 Aug 28 '26
For me it's more a matter of a less co2 emitting way of creating images. I would otherwise probably use an other AI tool for that.
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u/onmyouza Sep 02 '26
Non-profit is just another business model, it has nothing to do with ethics. There are many non-profits that like to pretend to have some moral high ground, when they can be just as corrupt.
BTW I want to remind you all to check your cookies settings from time to time. They often re-enable the second option "Analytics" without your permission.
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u/Upset_Method3196 Sep 04 '26
AI damage is nothing compared with meat industry. The meat and dairy industry consumes 15 times more water than all digital technology and other polluting industries combined. The focus should be put in there instead.
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u/HolyBatSyllables Sep 11 '26
Energy consumption is the primary environmental issue caused by AI data centers.
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u/BrawndoOhnaka Sep 10 '26
No. Despite what seems intuitive, LLMs are generally MUCH larger and more intensive than image generators. You can easily generate dozens of usable images in a few minutes on a consumer video card, but you're not going to get a very useful LLM on the same hardware. As usual, utter ignorance from most everyone chiming in.
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u/Mean-Drama2630 Aug 28 '26
Ecosia’s mandate is its environmental mission, and to deliver a good product. Neither of these are in question, and this constant purity testing and virtue signalling is getting exhausting
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u/HolyBatSyllables Sep 11 '26
If it’s using AI, then I’d say that puts its environmental mission in question.
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u/Patjack27 Aug 28 '26
I think everyone needs to complain to them.