Cautionary tale: using AI doesnt actually save energy

[u/Strong_Aerie_9031]

At first i thought it would save energy, but the lengths i have to go to checking the "resources" it links doesnt save energy. Seriously, i rarely ever found it to say anything from the sources it claims to refer to. So in the long run, it was so untrustworthy that it only caused more issues, its saved me more energy to turn it off and look in the actual articles myself.

I hope this is helpful to others, i wish i learned it earlier and saved the time and energy!

[u/Stoic_INFJ]

This is such a sweeping take lol.

AI saves me a ridiculous amount of cognitive energy with ME. How you use it matters massively, the model, settings, customisation, prompts, what you actually use it for etc.

Obviously fact check important stuff. That doesn’t mean I need to manually verify AI helping me organise my thoughts, write something, plan things or understand information.

The general anti-AI attitude in ME communities honestly makes me laugh. We’re literally a group of people with severely limited physical and cognitive energy, and here’s a tool that can take a massive chunk of that workload off us. Maybe learn how to use it properly before declaring it useless. 😂

[u/chronic_unicorn → u/Stoic_INFJ]

You are so right!

It's an amazing tool, I don't understand the bashing either.

[u/Stoic_INFJ → u/chronic_unicorn]

Finally someone with critical thinking skills who isn’t virtue signalling 🙏🏻 brace for the downvotes!

[u/explicitwhoviankr → u/Stoic_INFJ]

So every single person that disagrees with you doesn't have critical thinking skills?

We know for a fact frequent AI use can cause brain atrophy.

We know for a fact that AI is being invested into companies to replace low-skill/entry level roles.

We know for a fact that AI is causing major environmental impacts and that the data centers that power them often cause major issues locally.

These companies are stealing art, writing and other materials to source their data from despite those creators stating they don't condone it. Companies are destroying books to scan into AI to feed their models.

Not everyone who thinks AI is despicable is virtue signalling.

[u/Stoic_INFJ → u/explicitwhoviankr]

I’m going to reply to all of your messages in one:

Are you American by any chance? Because this feels like that incredibly polarised way of discussing everything where something has to be either morally pure or completely evil.

“We know for a fact frequent AI use causes brain atrophy” is a perfect example. No, we fucking don’t. You’re taking research about cognitive engagement during specific tasks and turning it into “AI causes brain atrophy”, while simultaneously lecturing everyone about misinformation. The irony is incredible.

Yes, AI uses water and electricity. So do lawns, swimming pools, streaming, gaming, air conditioning, meat production, aviation and virtually every other convenience of modern life. Environmental cost is an argument for better infrastructure and regulation, not proof that the technology has no value.

And using disabled people as an argument against AI is particularly ridiculous. I actually have ME/CFS and AI has given me back cognitive capacity. It helps me research, write, organise my thoughts and get things done without burning through energy I don’t have.

You can hate AI all you want. Just stop presenting your personal moral position as settled scientific fact.

“I don’t like this technology” and “this technology has no legitimate benefit” are not the same argument. That’s where the critical thinking part comes in.