AI is Here — What Is Holding You Back?

[fisicx]

Which large data centre need more power than the states peak demand?

An Enormous Data Center In Wyoming Will Consume 5x More Power Than The State's People. The Owner Remains A Mystery

A massive new artificial intelligence data center is coming to Wyoming, and it's so big that it will eventually use five times more electricity than all the homes in the state combined, according to the mayor of the state’s largest city. Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins called the project a “game...

finance.yahoo.com

 

[Nathanto]

An Enormous Data Center In Wyoming Will Consume 5x More Power Than The State's People. The Owner Remains A Mystery

A massive new artificial intelligence data center is coming to Wyoming, and it's so big that it will eventually use five times more electricity than all the homes in the state combined, according to the mayor of the state’s largest city. Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins called the project a “game...

finance.yahoo.com

Good find but that can't be the one @DontAsk was referring to as it uses its own energy source, so nothing to do with the state's power demands.

 

[fisicx]

…and I'm confident that ultimately AI will do the same.

I agree. What I don’t agree with is the enormous expenditure of resources so I can turn my selfie into a rabbit. Or, as my friend has discovered, lose their job because AI now does all their graphic design.

 

[Newchodge]

That's a strawman argument - the irony is that it's probably AI that will come up with many of the solutions that will improve the planet for future generations.

There won't BE any future generations.

 

[Newchodge]

Good find but that can't be the one @DontAsk was referring to as it uses its own energy source, so nothing to do with the state's power demands.

Try re-reading @DontAsk post.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

So it's OK to add to all those things that are already destroying the planet?

Where did all this tree hugging come from?

 

[Nathanto]

Try re-reading @DontAsk post.

I've re-read it, how can the Wyoming data centre be "a problem" when it uses its own power supply and not the state's? What am I missing?

 

[Mark T Jones]

A consistent feature of industrial revolutions (AI is being billed as the fifth) is that they increase employment opportunities in high and low skill jobs and reduce mid-skill opportunities

Also, all previously have changed geographical wealth.

Where AI is concerned, I'm struggling to see where/what the big business model is.

Mechanisation created an industry manufacturing machines & consumables.

The Internet created a new form of retail etc etc

Other than subscriptions what is the real industry of AI?

 

[Newchodge]

I've re-read it, how can the Wyoming data centre be "a problem" when it uses its own power supply and not the state's? What am I missing?

The absolute amount of power used.

 

[Nathanto]

Other than subscriptions what is the real industry of AI?

The lazy answer is:

"AI isn't really a subscription industry; it's developing into an infrastructure, automation and transaction industry, with the biggest prize being a share of the money currently spent on human labour and decision-making."

 

[Ozzy]

Where AI is concerned, I'm struggling to see where/what the big business model is.

I was just about to answer this but @Nathanto has pretty answered it.

Effectively, it is as you say, it will redistribute jobs just like every other major invention has done before, as I said in one of my earlier posts here. Some people will lose their jobs, and new generations will work in jobs that didn't exist 10 years ago.

 

[Mark T Jones]

The lazy answer is:

"AI isn't really a subscription industry; it's developing into an infrastructure, automation and transaction industry, with the biggest prize being a share of the money currently spent on human labour and decision-making."

That answers the demographic change, but not the true industry of AI though...

 

[Nathanto]

The absolute amount of power used.

Well, yes, on one level the absolute amount of power used is increasing but that applies to pretty much everything we take for granted in our homes despite @DontAsk's protestations that for some reason everything else other than AI should not be considered.

What that ignores though is that what humans do best is innovate and the increased demands of AI have already resulted in much more efficient and more environmentally-friendly data centres.

The hot topic of the moment is water usage for cooling and zero-water-use data centres are already in use. You don't have to be Einstein to realise that the inevitable outcome will be all or most future data centres won't use anything like the water that we currently use, effectively reversing the environmental impact of today's digital world...

 

[fisicx]

I suspect any discussion on the benefits and dangers of AI will continue for many years with arguments on both sides of the fence being unresolved.

AI is here to stay and will have many benefits. But the huge resources being invested are unlikely ever to be recovered. At some point there will be a realignment and I suspect many investors will lose their shirts.

What annoys me the most is the money (and not just AI money) could be better spent on those who need the most help. Instead of yet another data centre maybe those with the money could help those in need.

 

[DontAsk]

It wasn't that one, but this https://moneywise.com/news/top-stories/kevin-oleary-utah-data-center-stratos-project-opposition

The fact it's happening in multiple locations is worrying.

 

[Nathanto]

It wasn't that one, but this https://moneywise.com/news/top-stories/kevin-oleary-utah-data-center-stratos-project-opposition

Again that's a clickbait headline; it's an off-grid data centre, it's not using Utah state's power so how much it uses in relation to the state is irrelevant...

 

[GLAbusiness]

Data centres, including AI account for less than 1% of global CO2 emissions.

So, lets concentrate on the biggest issue - burning things. Can AI help us to do that?

The global objective should be: Make electricity cheap, abundant and virtually carbon-free — then electrify as much of the world's economy as possible.

If we are worried about the environment we should use AI to help us on that road.

Worrying about insignificant contributors is a waste of our collective resources

Then we can compare the energy cost of AI against AI contribution to the global goal.

 

[ctrlbrk]

Data centres, including AI account for less than 1% of global CO2 emissions.

This is not just about emissions though, is it.

It's also about water consumption, pollution and rising electrical bills.


Admittedly all I've read is anecdotal evidence and I don't know how big the problem is, but it is not just about one dimension anymore.

 

[DontAsk]

Again that's a clickbait headline;

Available from less click-baity sources, too.

it's an off-grid data centre, it's not using Utah state's power so how much it uses in relation to the state is irrelevant...

9GW of fossil fuel!

That's 1/3 of the UK total usage and >3x of the UK's fossil fuel usage at the moment (16:20 24/08/2026). For ONE data centre

Make it renewable, or maybe nuclear, and I would care a lot less.

 

[Newchodge]

It looks as if datacentres are considered to be a problem in Scotland.

‘Never seen this level of objection’: Scotland pushes back against datacentre boom

Holyrood ‘inching towards moratorium’ amid concerns over massive proposed developments in Auchtertool and beyond

www.theguardian.com

 

[Nathanto]

It looks as if datacentres are considered to be a problem in Scotland.

Let's put it into context, it's "considered to be a problem" by 1600 people out of a population of 4.6 million adults...

 

[fisicx]

It’s perception. Local people have opinions that are roughshod over by developers and planners. The data centre doesn’t employ local people and brings no income to the local economy.

 

[Newchodge]

Let's put it into context, it's "considered to be a problem" by 1600 people out of a population of 4.6 million adults...

And the Parliament.

 

[DontAsk]

It seems there may be an upside https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...enters-spur-new-power-transformer-technology/

 

[Ozzy]

It seems there may be an upside

Where there is a demand, it drives innovation. The invention of ultrafast internet (broadband, fibre, etc) was driven by the demand for online pornography. We see this demand and innovation across many industries, which is a good thing really, commercial opportunities are a good motivator.

 

[DontAsk]

Where there is a demand, it drives innovation. The invention of ultrafast internet (broadband, fibre, etc) was driven by the demand for online pornography. We see this demand and innovation across many industries, which is a good thing really, commercial opportunities are a good motivator.

Printing press - pornography
Internet - pornography
AI - pornography (e.g. nudification apps, etc)



Even the ancients used tools to make pornographic items.
Fire - keeping warm at the dogging site?

 

[ctrlbrk]

There's an account on Bluesky called "fesshole" that collects (elsewhere) anonymous confessions and then they get published.

Today's favourite of mine:

Work mandates AI. Can't refuse and risk losing the job. It's done FA for my productivity, but it's done wonders for my ability to play games whilst Claude takes an hour to do a simple piece of work.

 

[gpietersz]

It's also about water consumption, pollution and rising electrical bills.

IN the US data centres (AI and other) use less water than golf courses, and less than agriculture - even less than some single crops like cotton.

 

[ctrlbrk]

IN the US data centres (AI and other) use less water than golf courses, and less than agriculture - even less than some single crops like cotton.

Well as I said, I don't have the full data to either agree or disagree.

This is a 5 min video of a Meta data centre being built which led to water shortage and contamination.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Whether this is part of a trend or anecdotal evidence, I leave up to others to debate.

 

[DontAsk]

IN the US data centres (AI and other) use less water than golf courses, and less than agriculture - even less than some single crops like cotton.

Self evidently there are a lot of golf courses and a lot of crops so they use a lot of water. Most of the proposed data centres have not been built yet. They may be the straw that breaks the camels back

The other issue is data centres being proposed for dry areas where that's are already serious pressures on water supplies.

 

[peppermintlover]

Great discussion here on some serious points, but the funny parts really made my day. I wish we could see the OP before editing, like someone said, but ok. The Bluesky account mentioned above - pure treasure, bookmarked.

 

[ctrlbrk]

"Visitors to OpenAI’s chatbot saw an array of strange behaviour – including the site attempting to download an unusual file.

Users joked that the outage meant they would have to use their own brains at work."

ChatGPT just stopped working

Some users also report problems with rival systems such as Claude and Grok

www.independent.co.uk

 

[gpietersz]

@ctrlbrk it looks like Claude and Grok were worse affected. OpenAI were probably affected because people switched adding load.

 

[ctrlbrk]

@ctrlbrk it looks like Claude and Grok were worse affected. OpenAI were probably affected because people switched adding load.

Thanks @gpietersz - I actually wanted to post that because of the funny (however accurate) quote.