RE: https://cosocial.ca/@evan/115580076628853324
This was posted 4 months ago, i.e. forever in LLM time. I would really like to see a fully-worked through analysis of the actual GHG cost of #GenAI in general and for coding applications specifically. Including, obviously, training, data centre infrastructure, silicon fabrication, etc.
The reason: I have trouble reconciling these numbers with the insane volumes of investment capital going into the space.
@timbray my previous job was building greenhouse gas inventories.
Data centres are responsible for about 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. AI is responsible for about 15% of the data centre emissions, or about 0.15% of global emissions.
People who talk about AI burning up the planet don't spend a lot of time thinking about what's really burning up the planet: fossil fuels for transportation and heating, deforestation, and cattle.
"By comparison, data centres consumed 415 TWh in 2024, roughly 1.5% of the world’s total electricity consumption (see ‘Global electricity growth’)."
Electricity accounts for about 1/3 of global GHGs, so data centres are <1% of global GHGs.
"They found that servers for AI accounted for 24% of server electricity demand and 15% of total data centre energy demand in 2024."
Tim Bray
Evan Prodromou
blturner