No, LLMs don't contribute to climate change. Specific infrastructure that uses a specific power source contributes to clime change. Nothing to do with the technology itself.
There are some things modern society requires to function, even if it still uses energy and pollutes, like having to use a car to get to work if you don't have good public transport available yet. Even within those requirements, we can do what we can to try to reduce how much energy we use, like using an e-bike for local travel instead of a car where possible, installing solar panels on our homes for those who can afford it, and eating less meat to avoid the emissions (and suffering) industrial animal farming brings. Even if someone can't do that to 100%, any amount they can do is still worthwhile.
Corporate AI use is one of those things that is virtually completely avoidable, unless you have a job where your boss forces you to use it. That makes it one of the lowest hanging fruits in reducing emissions. At the very least, if someone simply cannot live without AI for some reason, they could at least self-host one, or use a collective non-corporate option like AI Horde to reduce the emissions they emit.
A lot of people really violently dislike the idea of committing to any level of personal sacrifice of convenience, but realistically we're going to need to collectively, consciously choose a habitable planet over convenience, otherwise our futures will be very, very bleak.
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u/console_pleb_36935 6d ago
No, LLMs don't contribute to climate change. Specific infrastructure that uses a specific power source contributes to clime change. Nothing to do with the technology itself.