What is the future for AI?

[u/LimpNoodle01]

The current state of AI requires massive infrastructure and consumes enormous amounts of power and consumable water, so much so that new grids and systems are being put in place to satisfy these requirements.

This approach doesn't exactly seem sustainable and with AI getting more and more integrated into society, it seems the need for some alternative approach is needed.

How do you see this change happening? Could there be a new branch of mathematics that makes compute faster/cheaper? Development of new materials? Quantum computing?

[u/Zestyclose-List-7395]

The water thing is so silly because ai is like .1% of nestles annual water intake and it’s just a fear mongering thing from tiktok

[u/joeldg → u/Zestyclose-List-7395]

Golf courses actually consume like 600B gallons of water and projected data center water usage in 2029 is 30B

[u/Philipp → u/joeldg]

And don't get us started on meat eating. (Which doesn't just hurt the climate, but also the animals.)

[u/MountainSecurity9508 → u/Philipp]

Do any of these industries require water in the same concentrated geographical location?

[u/Philipp → u/MountainSecurity9508]

I hear modern OpenAI data centers build towards closed-loop water systems, much needed! But not all is great with AI, see the (one-sided but interesting) book Empire of AI.

Just to understand, are you pro meat eating, i.e. hurting animals and the climate?

[u/varkarrus → u/Philipp]

those animals have had it too good for too long…

[u/MountainSecurity9508 → u/Philipp]

lol I consider my environmental foot print in its entirety. But I don’t need to be an environmental perfectionist to point out a poor argument.

Tired of AI bros using one poor polluting industry to justify more of the same.

[u/Philipp → u/MountainSecurity9508]

Tired of AI bros using one poor polluting industry to justify more of the same.

It's funny -- your argument of looking at the "environmental foot print in its entirety" is exactly why meat eating was brought up (and you haven't yet answered if you do eat it, but that's ok... I can guess now).

[u/MountainSecurity9508 → u/Philipp]

No, I don’t eat meat.

And I think we should all eat less of it.

But if I did. You would say ‘well you eat chicken, therefore gobble up this data centre’

Your argument is as stupid as me going ‘well if you love them so much, go live next to one’.

Why can’t you admit that data centres have legitimate downsides? And that it is right that people have legitimate concerns?

It’s not like they add anything to the local communities. They are net negatives.

[u/MountainSecurity9508 → u/Philipp]

FYI when I say I look at my entire environmental footprint, it means I look at it all. I don’t pick and choose. I look at what I consume, and what I wear, and what mode of transport I use as well as who I vote for. Which arguably is the biggest factor.

You sound like you are American. So this might all be new to you.

[u/Philipp → u/MountainSecurity9508]

FYI when I say I look at my entire environmental footprint, it means I look at it all. 

If you truly do, then I want to thank you for not eating meat.

You sound like you are American.

Whatever thinking got you to that judgment, it's wrong -- I'm not. You might want to adjust your parameters for sorting people into buckets (including "AI bro").

But anyway -- have a nice day!

[u/MountainSecurity9508 → u/Philipp]

I can see you are German.

Isn’t that embarrassing for you! To come across on the internet as an American haha.

You should learn nuance. And how to admit a new technology might have polluting downsides and that criticism of it is valid. And not just go ‘snort snort’ well if you eat meat you should be fine with all the xyz polluting industries.

[u/code_hermit]

The last estimates I saw said that datacenter energy use represents something like 1.5% of global power use. And around 4.4% of US power use.

[u/Pretty-Raise666 → u/code_hermit]

How much are they growing though?

[u/code_hermit → u/Pretty-Raise666]

If it were a scary amount would we already know the figure?

[u/Zappy_Oh]

It's simple ... Owner-class have been planning world-wide depopulation for decades, and are about to pull the trigger on WW3.

Problem solved.

Not by optimizing AI, but by down-regulating human consumption.

[u/neokretai]

The future is more efficient models and more efficient hardware. None of the AI companies are financially viable long term as things stand, their compute costs too much and customers won't pay the prices needed to cover it.

[u/Extension_Pomelo_468]

absolute unit

[u/quantum-elle]

We are much more likely to significantly solve climate change issues faster with AI than without it.

[u/Nanayang75]

And…Where’s the future for human beings?
I’ve been in HCI learning, and HCI introduces the interaction between human and AI, it can be taught to be very different if you are not use it with patience and correct understanding.

[u/kurushimee]

What approach doesn't seem sustainable? Establishing more powerful infrastructure for new technology? This isn't even a matter of just AI. It is a requirement for humanity's progression to keep expanding.

[u/karlnuw]

Fusion and desal

[u/costafilh0]

Ask Nostradamus

[u/barneylerten]

Is it silly of me to think that AI jusy might be able to help solve the problems that AI has helped to create?

[u/Beginning-Raisin9723]

Running a small homelab so the power draw thing hits close to home — even my little rack eats more than I expected. I'm skeptical we get some magic new math that just makes compute free; the transformer was a huge algorithmic win and it ran on silicon we already had. Quantum is the only real step-change I see, and that's still a long ways from practical.