I haven't kept up to date with this, but last I heard we still aren't certain how much energy AI training/inference actually takes at the big AI companies (OpenAI/Anthropic). Have any of these companies shared this since? What's our closest estimates if not?
Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
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Re: Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
#22Reminder that LLMs only(?) consume energy on the order of a few seconds of Netflix[1]. [1]: https://bsky.app/profile/simonwillison.net/post/3m6qdf5rffs2...
It's quickly pointed out that he's not counting the training of models, producing all the GPUs, energy spent on scraping, the increased storage needs from scraping the whole internet, etc.
Re: Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
#23People in the comments seem confused about this with statements like “greenest AI is no AI” style comments. And well, obviously that’s true but it’s an apples to pears comparison. Clearly Ecosia is pushing for “people want AI” _and_ we want to make it more ecofriendly. Taking away features from users altogether is not the right answer. It’s like saying “cheapest car is no car”. It doesn’t solve the fundamental proble…
Isn't this why transit advocates try to reduce the need for owning a car though?
I'm thinking a really good search engine would not make you reach for ai as often and so could be eco friendly that way
Re: Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
#24> As a not-for-profit company, we can afford to do things differently. AI Search uses smaller, more efficient models, and we avoid energy-heavy features like video generation altogether.
I'm a bit confused -- do other search engines provide video generation? Mentioning that sounds too out of place to me. Am I missing something?
Re: Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
#25Reminder that LLMs only(?) consume energy on the order of a few seconds of Netflix[1]. [1]: https://bsky.app/profile/simonwillison.net/post/3m6qdf5rffs2...
It's quickly pointed out that he's not counting the training of models, producing all the GPUs, energy spent on scraping, the increased storage needs from scraping the whole internet, etc.
The Netflix number is probably not counting all the energy spent producing the shows/movies, building all the cameras/specialized equipment, building their data centers etc. either.
It is fair to compare inference to streaming. Both are done by the end user.
Re: Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
#26Reminder that LLMs only(?) consume energy on the order of a few seconds of Netflix[1]. [1]: https://bsky.app/profile/simonwillison.net/post/3m6qdf5rffs2...
That's inference only, otherwise people would not be buulding nuclear reactors to power AI.
Does the Netflix number include the energy cost of manufacturing all the cameras/equipment used for production? Energy for travel for all the crew involved to the location? Energy for building out the sets?
Re: Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
#27Running an LLM by default when I open your site is the most energy-consuming thing a computer can do, and the thing consumers hate the most in 2025.
Your computer might use more energy displaying the results to you than the server does generating them. Especially in Chrome :)
The server shares resources!
Re: Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
#28People in the comments seem confused about this with statements like “greenest AI is no AI” style comments. And well, obviously that’s true but it’s an apples to pears comparison. Clearly Ecosia is pushing for “people want AI” _and_ we want to make it more ecofriendly. Taking away features from users altogether is not the right answer. It’s like saying “cheapest car is no car”. It doesn’t solve the fundamental proble…
Isn't this why transit advocates try to reduce the need for owning a car though? I'm thinking a really good search engine would not make you reach for ai as often and so could be eco friendly that way
Yes, the greenest browser is one that doesn’t use AI. They aren’t claiming they’ve built that though, just the greenest AI.
Re: Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
#29I think it is more the greenwashiest AI
Re: Ecosia: The greenest AI is here
#30Is there no browser I can use without this AI trash jammed into it?
The AI bros keep minusing. I want you to remember this when the AI bubble pops next year.