I tried to post this to Reddit but for some reason it keeps getting removed by filters. I normally just lurk on Lemmy but I decided to make an account because I’m so over that stupid platform.
ANYWAY
Last night on my flight home I noticed that the person in front of me was using ChatGPT. I got nosy so I looked closer and found out that they were actually using ChatGPT to write the content for a program of a sustainability and climate conference. They specifically included a section about “dirty” energy sources and the harm that results from energy producers supplying data centers. I was floored.
I am not sure if this was the final product or just a draft, but I find it pretty gross and ironic that the AI that is fueling the climate crisis and responsible for the rapid development of data centers that are doing irreparable damage to local communities and ecosystems is being employed to create the materials for a sustainability conference. Maybe start with looking in the mirror first?
I looked up the company, and turns out this program might be part of a Keynote Livestream that is featuring the Mayor of San Fransisco lol.
Should I opt for a 30 hour journey or a 4 hour flight hmmmm
Was the journey that necessary?
I haven’t step on a plane in 15 years and counting. Maybe some travel is necessary, but surely not all traveling is necessary.
Yes, it was necessary. It was for a wedding.
The one that’s less carbon intensive. A few days isn’t that long.
If we are very optimistic your 4 hour flight caused roughly 240kg of co2 and if we assume poor conditions for the llm it would use about .012g co2 per token, then the flight equals roughly 19 King James Bibles in llm formatting.
Doesn’t mean the flight is always objectively worse, but getting worked up over someone who’s actually involving themselves in the climate using llm to format a text is nonsense imo. Did you check if they were eating meat or what clothes they were wearing?