How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
caseyhandmer.wordpress.com
How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
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Re: How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
#2i have a crazy idea... how about... not focusing on ever increasing the size of ai models, so that we don't need to build all those power-hungry ai training datacenters? just a thought
Re: How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
#3The problem is that massive amounts of PV is needed to replace existing fossil fuels, so these would be extending the carbon output of coal/natural gas.
If AI training is being that power hungry, maybe we shouldn't be doing it ... right now.
It's all fueled by speculative VC funding. This isn't a slam dunk economics calculation, certainly no more than regulation to shut this nonsense down would be.
Re: How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
#4i have a crazy idea... how about... not focusing on ever increasing the size of ai models, so that we don't need to build all those power-hungry ai training datacenters? just a thought
Even if the models aren't gargantuan, millions of people using AI applications is going to burn a lot of power.
Re: How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
#5This might be why Bill Gates is invested so heavily into TerraPower.
Re: How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
#6i have a crazy idea... how about... not focusing on ever increasing the size of ai models, so that we don't need to build all those power-hungry ai training datacenters? just a thought
Even if the models aren't gargantuan, millions of people using AI applications is going to burn a lot of power.
This only makes their argument stronger.
Re: How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
#7The problem is that massive amounts of PV is needed to replace existing fossil fuels, so these would be extending the carbon output of coal/natural gas. If AI training is being that power hungry, maybe we shouldn't be doing it ... right now. It's all fueled by speculative VC funding. This isn't a slam dunk economics calculation, certainly no more than regulation to shut this nonsense down would be.
That makes sense if PV deployment is limited by supply. But the solar industry is currently limited by demand. You can see it in market news for solar components:
"Wafer prices stable-to-soft on market oversupply"
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/03/15/wafer-prices-stable-t...
"Wacker Chemie’s sales, earnings fall in tough market"
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/01/30/wacker-chemies-sales-...
"China polysilicon prices fall 51.8% year-on-year amid supply glut"
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/01/19/china-polysilicon-pri...
"China solar cell prices decline on sluggish downstream demand"
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/01/05/china-solar-cell-pric...
Re: How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
#8i have a crazy idea... how about... not focusing on ever increasing the size of ai models, so that we don't need to build all those power-hungry ai training datacenters? just a thought
It’s always interesting to see these ideas on a tech forum.
Should we as humanity stop right here? Draw a line in the sand and not do anything new? Maybe we should move backwards, skipping the Industrial Revolution and go back to each individual growing their own food?
This is a serious question. What do you propose? Because you are not able to pick and choose what humanity tries out, so shall we stop entirely?
Re: How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
#9i have a crazy idea... how about... not focusing on ever increasing the size of ai models, so that we don't need to build all those power-hungry ai training datacenters? just a thought
It’s always interesting to see these ideas on a tech forum. Should we as humanity stop right here? Draw a line in the sand and not do anything new? Maybe we should move backwards, skipping the Industrial Revolution and go back to each individual growing their own food? This is a serious question. What do you propose? Because you are not able to pick and choose what humanity tries out, so shall we stop entirely?
> Should we as humanity stop right here? Draw a line in the sand and not do anything new?
There will be a point when the answer is "yes".
For example, when we can produce hobby 3d printers for biological viruses. Or DIY kits for nuclear weapons. Or cameras that are the size of a grain of sand and cost only 1 cent. Stuff that some individuals might want, but society will never be ready for.
Re: How to feed all the power-hungry AI data centers
#10i have a crazy idea... how about... not focusing on ever increasing the size of ai models, so that we don't need to build all those power-hungry ai training datacenters? just a thought
Even if the models aren't gargantuan, millions of people using AI applications is going to burn a lot of power.
I still haven’t seen a use case that will make AI adopted by the masses I think it’s still mostly hot air. It’s good for what it is for office jobs and higher education, but only for specific tasks and it has to be triple checked.
Just yesterday at work I asked it for a Powershell script to upload a local file to S3 and it hallucinated a method. The whole script is like 10 lines. How could it mess that up, but meanwhile it’s about to change the world and be mass adopted?
This is Claude 3 the best model for coding…
After using these models for awhile I think they’re really helpful to get off the ground in terms of coding and writing and to help review coding and writing, but that’s about all I’ve seen so far. It feels like we’re also getting diminishing returns with the current paradigm so we’ll see if I’ll be eating my hat next year, but I really don’t see mass adoption like a search engine.