ChatGPT prompt consumes equivalent to 10s of Netflix

ChatGPT prompt consumes equivalent to 10s of Netflix(simonwillison.net)

8 points by makeavish 170 days ago | 4 comments

aurareturn 170 days ago |

  This is evidently not the whole story with regards to AI energy usage - training costs, data center buildout costs and the ongoing fierce competition between the providers all add up to a very significant carbon footprint for the AI industry as a whole.

Yes but movie making is also energy intensive - people, sets, cameras, shooting, rendering, editing, etc.

AI should still produce a lot more carbon but AI is suppose to help humanity advance faster and make humanity more productive. Movies and shows are mostly entertainment. So the extra carbon footprint should be worth it.

zekrioca 170 days ago | |

> but movie making is also energy intensive - people, sets, cameras, shooting, rendering, editing, etc.

Do you have at least the order of magnitude for this? Does it also consume as much water as data centers? Has the entertainment industry ever needed to attract US$7T within 5 years to do what it does?

> “AI is supposed to help humanity advance faster and make humanity more productive.”

Is it? How? Will it really advance life or it is just a probability? Advance in what way, and why do you think being faster is better, and if better, better at what? If it is a probability, what exact number is it? What if it doesn’t happen in the way you think it will?

aurareturn 170 days ago | | |

  Do you have at least the order of magnitude for this? Does it also consume as much water as data centers? Has the entertainment industry ever needed to attract US$7T within 5 years to do what it does?

No I don't. But I wanted to call that out.

  Is it? How? Will it really advance life or it is just a probability? Advance in what way, and why do you think being faster is better, and if better, better at what? If it is a probability, what exact number is it? What if it doesn’t happen in the way you think it will?

These are all decent questions. I don't have the answer. However, I do know that movies and shows are for entertainment. They do not enhance productivity.

joegibbs 170 days ago |

Even in terms of other computing I think LLMs are a bit of a whipping boy. Do we really need to be gaming in 4K at 120fps with better graphics every year? The game would be just as fun and use much less energy if it looked like Halo 1 (especially when multiplied by however many hundreds of millions of people) but it's treated as a sin to use those same GPUs to make text instead.

This is evidently not the whole story with regards to AI energy usage - training costs, data center buildout costs and the ongoing fierce competition between the providers all add up to a very significant carbon footprint for the AI industry as a whole.

Do you have at least the order of magnitude for this? Does it also consume as much water as data centers? Has the entertainment industry ever needed to attract US$7T within 5 years to do what it does?

Is it? How? Will it really advance life or it is just a probability? Advance in what way, and why do you think being faster is better, and if better, better at what? If it is a probability, what exact number is it? What if it doesn’t happen in the way you think it will?