Bill Gates says not to worry about AI's energy draw (www.theregister.com)
from neme@lemm.ee to technology@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 18:24
https://lemm.ee/post/35755830

#technology

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Eldritch@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 18:32 next collapse

That should be enough to worry anybody.

Cryan24@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 19:30 next collapse

From the guy who said 640Kb is enough for anyone…

msage@programming.dev on 29 Jun 2024 07:31 collapse
schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business on 28 Jun 2024 18:32 next collapse

So if we light the planet on fire to fuel the AI, the AI will then tell us how to put the fire out.

Okay sure, but how about we just… don’t do any of that?

RonnyZittledong@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 19:16 collapse

The AI solution will be to stop producing food. That would save enormous amounts of energy.

[deleted] on 28 Jun 2024 19:33 next collapse

.

cybermass@lemmy.ca on 28 Jun 2024 19:34 next collapse

Feeding humans is not needed to keep the world saving AI running, so why would we even bother?

schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business on 28 Jun 2024 21:37 collapse

No more food, but here’s half a pound of cricket flour. Meets all your daily nutritional needs!

shortwavesurfer@monero.town on 28 Jun 2024 18:35 next collapse

Oh, gotcha. So crypto mining is bad, because he can’t make money off of it. But AI is just fine, because he can make tons of money off of it. I understand now. Makes perfect sense.

blindbunny@lemmy.ml on 28 Jun 2024 18:38 next collapse

Bill Gates shouldn’t worry about people wanting to make a tent from his skin.

AbidanYre@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 18:42 next collapse

640kW should be enough for anyone.

Cryan24@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 20:14 next collapse

I have to admit, this one took me a minute 🙂

IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works on 29 Jun 2024 01:35 collapse

Wait, is that a random number, or the actual scale of the power draw we’re talking about?

'Cause that’s fuck-all when we’re talking about industrial level power draw.

AbidanYre@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 01:51 collapse

computerworld.com/…/the-640k-quote-won-t-go-away-…

I originally had MW but changed it to be more in line with the supposed original quote.

li10@feddit.uk on 28 Jun 2024 19:00 next collapse

Ah, okay, thanks Bill 👍

LovingHippieCat@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 19:07 next collapse

Breaking: Rich tech guy thinks that the energy draw from rich tech projects is nothing to worry about.

sunzu@kbin.run on 28 Jun 2024 19:17 next collapse

Said a guy banging a Russian ballet dancer while married.

Should we really listen to a guy like that?

Epstein hooked it up for the downvoters :)

catloaf@lemm.ee on 28 Jun 2024 19:33 next collapse

Depends on how the person he’s married to feels about it. I don’t know how they define their relationship.

sunzu@kbin.run on 28 Jun 2024 20:12 collapse

She divorced him

ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 20:57 collapse

I mean his life, who cares.

gencha@lemm.ee on 28 Jun 2024 21:06 collapse

He was on flights to Epstein’s Island. Everyone should care

teletext@reddthat.com on 28 Jun 2024 19:18 next collapse

Bill Gates says the massive power draw required for AI processing is nothing to worry about as AI will ultimately identify ways to help cut power consumption and drive the transition to sustainable energy.

The final solution the AI comes up with: Cut the power of the poor, euthanize the old and weak.

TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org on 28 Jun 2024 19:31 next collapse

And make paperclips.

cyborganism@lemmy.ca on 28 Jun 2024 20:00 next collapse

The ways in question.

grue@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 21:06 collapse

I hate that they decided to have Morpheus hold up a battery instead of a processor because some empty suit thought audiences were too stupid to get it.

EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 29 Jun 2024 00:41 next collapse

Didn’t it also have something to do with a brand deal? Like the suit got extra funding for the movie by making a deal with Duracell to have their batteries in the movie or something.

imecth@fedia.io on 29 Jun 2024 08:07 collapse

The whole thing never made much sense anyways, machines would be without scrupules and cut off any redundancies like extra limbs, they'd probably just keep your brain in a jar.

arken@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 09:08 collapse

Well, perhaps that process would be more difficult and resource-intensive in this hypothetical scenario, so it would be much easier and less hassle to just keep the bodies alive?

Wogi@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 20:18 next collapse

If it were actually AI I might have some faith.

This isn’t a neural net processor, not a learning computer. It’s a fucking mechanical Turk. A bad one.

What he’s talking about isn’t capable of deriving new ideas. It’s just going to spit out shit it’s seen already.

The library of Babel is just as likely to give us the answers he’s talking about. More likely maybe because it’s at least already written down.

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 29 Jun 2024 09:02 collapse

I wonder if all this is to burn enough energy to make ignorant people believe that we have AI. And then use that AI as a justification of the existing order of things, the same way “civil contract” is. That it’s not really technical, but rather a very big and expensive propaganda campaign for abolishing democracies.

mumblerfish@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 22:25 next collapse

Wow, that is so dumb. I saw some crack pot dude trying to solve unsolved physics problems by using prompts like “imagine you are Einstein, then how would you solve: …”. Good to see he is not alone, but has Bill fucking Gates with similarly dumb AI takes.

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 29 Jun 2024 09:05 collapse

This is even more dumb when even Joan f-g Rowling in her books about magic for children described how and why magic can’t do this. One of the reasons I like Harry Potter - not for the plot or the human part, but for the magic there being quite similar to computers in our time. With similar limitations, except for unique cases.

So no matter how much one hates Rowling (I don’t, she’s done more good than evil by far still), she’s smarter and more decent than most of the humanity. That sucks.

Ledivin@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 12:03 collapse

So no matter how much one hates Rowling (I don’t, she’s done more good than evil by far still), she’s smarter and more decent than most of the humanity. That sucks.

Lol. She lucked into an amazing world that managed to remain a good story despite her writing, not because of it. She’s not an idiot, but literally every other piece of writing she’s ever put out kinda slams the “smarter than most of humanity” line.

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 29 Jun 2024 12:37 collapse

She’s not an idiot, but literally every other piece of writing she’s ever put out kinda slams the “smarter than most of humanity” line.

EDIT: accidental keypress

This happens and doesn’t mean that she

lucked into an amazing world that managed to remain a good story despite her writing, not because of it

, everyone who has, you know, actually created something knows that from experience.

Ledivin@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 13:35 collapse

They weren’t meant to be causative, and I stand by both of my statements. Her writing is objectively bad, and it’s a small miracle that she didn’t manage to ruin this series like everything else she’s written. Yes, I know those are strong words, and yes, I do believe them.

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 29 Jun 2024 17:51 collapse

Well, how can one speak about some thing’s author, the person who has built it from scratch, as of someone who can ruin it or not?

That said, it’s hard for me to read her in English, and I’ve read HP mostly in at least three translations to Russian, one official and two unofficial ones. The former sucks, and from the latter two the one which reads the best is by the least professional translator (actually she’s not a translator at all), and I mean Maria Spivak (the original one to circulate in the Runet and samizdat versions, not the abomination published much later).

It communicates the feeling of mad and a bit hooligan-ish fairy tale, I suspect that emotionally it’s the closest to the original.

Anyway, it’s pretty normal for an author to have a magnum opus and the rest of their works to just not make sense.

Fades@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 22:32 next collapse

how about euthanize the entire planet? Just put us out of our fucking misery already goddamn

JoShmoe@ani.social on 28 Jun 2024 22:37 collapse

Dead wrong. AI is not as reliable as their makers would like to believe. AI is more likely to adopt all the flaws of humanity than make anything “better.” A subjective term.

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 29 Jun 2024 09:07 collapse

It’s a text generator. All these people, were they to live in Antiquity, would jump ship to ship trying to visit every oracle and prophet in the Mediterranean asking questions about universe and seeking deep meaning in short texts of the Chinese fortune cookie kind.

TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 19:24 next collapse

Rich billionaire twat who owns a shitload of Microsoft shares says AI is good, don’t let the bubble burst. More at ten.

555_1@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 19:28 collapse

Don’t forget about him spending time on Epstein’s island with a bunch of underage girls.

TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 22:09 collapse

Or how the Gates foundation fought for the Oxford COVID vaccine NOT to be open sourced, and instead sold for profit, so that it wouldn’t undermine his pharma stocks.

Oxford university had previously secured funding from the UK gov to develop the vaccine under the expectation they open source it so that poorer countries would have greater vaccine access and the rollout could be faster.

kbal@fedia.io on 28 Jun 2024 19:31 next collapse

Suddenly I'm worried about AI's energy draw. "6 percent of global electricity" is not a small amount of electricity.

BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com on 28 Jun 2024 19:34 next collapse

Ah yes, classic tech solutionism.

“No need to be frugal, the tech will evolve and fix the causes of climate change!”

We need a solution right now, not in a decade, dumb ass. So frugality is the answer.

unlawfulbooger@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 28 Jun 2024 19:58 next collapse

Exactly

To quote the post more specifically:

Even as our species destroys its only home, we assume that the solutions to climate change must lie in technology, without stopping to examine the role that this very attitude has played in the crisis.

This is so deeply ingrained in our social consciousness that, when there is a new impressive technology, we assume that it must be here to solve one of our big problems. As the AI hype quickens the pace of our ecological devastation, we’re so dazzled by the technology that there is actual debate in supposedly serious publications as to whether AI is going to save us from climate change, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary.

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 29 Jun 2024 09:10 collapse

Frugality is what powers evolution. These people don’t want evolution, they want to build a religion.

kenkenken@sh.itjust.works on 28 Jun 2024 19:38 next collapse

I wish to live in a world where the media doesn’t consist of articles about how some rich or famous person says or thinks something.

Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee on 29 Jun 2024 06:13 collapse

There may be others reasons to interview Bill Gates about AI than the fact that he’s rich and famous.

nieceandtows@programming.dev on 28 Jun 2024 20:26 next collapse

Okbuddyretard or wowthanksimcured?

lvxferre@mander.xyz on 28 Jun 2024 20:27 next collapse

This screams FAITH (Filthy Assumptions Instead of THinking) from a distance, on multiple levels:

  1. Assuming that the current machine learning development will lead to artificial general intelligence. Will it?
  2. Assuming that said AGI would appear in time to reduce power consumption. Will it?
  3. Assuming that lowering the future power consumption will be enough to address issues caused by the current power consumption. Will it?
  4. Assuming that addressing issues from a distant future means that the whole process won’t cause harm for people in a nearer future. Will it?

Furthermore, Gates in the quote is being disingenuous:

“Let’s not go overboard on this,” he said. “Datacenters are, in the most extreme case, a 6 percent addition [to the energy load] but probably only 2 to 2.5 percent. The question is, will AI accelerate a more than 6 percent reduction? And the answer is: certainly,” Gates said.

The answer addresses something far, far more specific than the main issue.


If I may, here’s my alternative solution for the problem, in the same style as Gates’:

Kill everyone between the North Pole and the Equator.

What do you mean, it would kill 85% people in the world? Well, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs, right? Nobody that I know personally lives there, so Not My Problem®. (Just keep Japan, I need my anime to watch.)

…I’m being clearly sarcastic to deliver a point here - it’s trivially easy to underestimate issues affecting humankind, and problems associated with their solutions, if you are not directly affected by either. Gates is some billionaire bubbled around rich people; this sort of problem will affect the poor first, as the rich can simply throw enough money into their problems to make them go away.

Bougie_Birdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 28 Jun 2024 21:06 next collapse

Well as long as Bill says it’s cool, I guess I don’t have to form my own opinion

JoeKrogan@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 21:14 collapse

We should at least hear what Ja Rule has to say

psmgx@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 02:13 collapse

I’d prefer to hear 50’s opinion over Ja Rule

PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de on 28 Jun 2024 21:06 next collapse

Least insane techno-optimist

Fades@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 22:31 next collapse

oh okay

maxinstuff@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 22:51 next collapse

Iceland figured this out some years ago, and now they make heaps exporting computing power to international AI compute buyers.

They do it with a naturally cold climate, and loads of geo-thermal power.

Damage@feddit.it on 28 Jun 2024 23:21 next collapse

Bill Gates says the massive power draw required for AI processing is nothing to worry about as AI will ultimately identify ways to help cut power consumption and drive the transition to sustainable energy.

We already know how

Tronn4@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 00:50 next collapse

Ai told my power company to tell us to stop using energy during the day beucase ai needs the power to do the power co.pqnies jobs

Contravariant@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 01:05 next collapse

In a way AI refusing to recommend using so much computing power on LLMs could well be the first sign of actual intelligence.

mutant_zz@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 07:24 next collapse

Yeah, this is one of the many things that annoys me about AI discourse.

“We can use it to solve climate change!”

We already technically know how to solve climate change, but politics makes doing that impossible.

And, no, AI can’t “fix” politics. We’re going to have to figure that out by ourselves.

GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 11:49 next collapse

but now we have a scapegoat

laurelraven@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 29 Jun 2024 15:28 collapse

Climate scientists: “do these things to fix climate change”
Everyone: “but that’s HAAARD and I don’t wanna!”
AI developers: create AI
Climate scientists: “AI is drawing massive power accelerating climate change, we need to stop that”
Everyone: “but it can tell us how to fix climate change so it’s going to be okay!”
AI climate model: “do these same things to fix climate change”
Everyone: “but that’s HAAARD and I don’t wanna!”

Yeah, I can’t see any way this could possibly fail…

AWittyUsername@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 15:05 collapse

Sure lets burn all the oil to figure out how to not burn all the oil.

Static_Rocket@lemmy.world on 28 Jun 2024 23:59 next collapse

Fuck it. Gun it at the brick wall. Jerry’s rigging up an emergency break as we speak. Don’t mind that the last piece to said break may be missing.

- Man who will probably die before we hit the wall

Phegan@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 00:49 next collapse

Mr anti climate change says not to worry when it benefits him.

Fuck bill gates, fucking nepo-baby

uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 29 Jun 2024 01:48 next collapse

Are we absolutely sure it’s real Bill Gates and not Robot Bill Gates? I mean he’s had bad takes before but maybe it’s best to be sure?

yardy_sardley@lemmy.ca on 29 Jun 2024 04:32 next collapse

Alright, but if I end up getting stuffed in a goo-filled pod so the AI can suck my energy out through a massive plug in the back of my head, I’m gonna be pretty upset.

TheFriar@lemm.ee on 29 Jun 2024 05:31 next collapse

Bill gates accepts your terms

telllos@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 08:52 collapse

It’s not going to be in the back of your head.

MisterMoo@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 04:33 next collapse

Okay thanks Bill, I won’t.

Snapz@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 16:41 collapse

Actually frees up some time on the old to-do list!

Look out Saturday, cuz here comes Millhouse!

BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 04:58 next collapse

And that’s why he’s so rich.

Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee on 29 Jun 2024 06:10 next collapse

If this isn’t the most cynical message forum then I don’t know what is.

MonkderDritte@feddit.de on 29 Jun 2024 07:29 next collapse

I say shut up.

masquenox@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 08:41 next collapse

Of all the celebrity billionaire parasites this one is the one I hate the most. At least Elon and Bezos has the decency to show us what scumbags they are… they don’t call Gates “No.1 Sugar Daddy To The PR industry” for nothing.

Blackmist@feddit.uk on 29 Jun 2024 08:53 next collapse

As he counts his money.

Zangoose@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 19:43 collapse

If he was counting his money in $100 bills it would still take him about 40 years,

Edit: assuming he counts 1 $100 bill per second

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 29 Jun 2024 08:59 next collapse

Another attempt to approach king Midas’ powers by turning matter into shit, because apparently if we can turn it into shit, then eventually we’ll learn to turn it into gold.

It’s amazingly stupid. Among other things because it’s been described by Lem in either “Summa Technologiae” or “Megabit Bomb”, I don’t remember which. Possibly both.

But one doesn’t have to read Lem for the concept of entropy.

It just feels so boring. People with power showing with all their herd that they don’t deserve that power, because they don’t understand simple concepts.

rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee on 29 Jun 2024 12:51 next collapse

Ricky says Bill Gates needs to shut the fuck up. You have thousands of times more money than any human will ever need leave the rest of us alone you fucking demon.

technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 29 Jun 2024 14:48 next collapse

They gonna be hawking these cliff notes machines even as the last breathable air disappears.

AWittyUsername@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 15:04 next collapse

Oh Gates what a lovely altruistic human billionaire.

Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works on 29 Jun 2024 15:56 next collapse

Can I worry about the fact the most serious AI’s are owned by large companies, and that they are being taught to replace artists, writers and creatives?

What a sad fucking dystopia we live in.

RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world on 29 Jun 2024 16:32 next collapse

While shooing folks away from a curtained-off area.

helenslunch@feddit.nl on 03 Jul 2024 05:35 collapse

The guy who owns the company leading the charge on AI is telling you not to worry about the power that AI uses.

I mean it should go without saying that you should completely ignore this.