OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed issues about AI’s environmental impression this week whereas talking at an occasion hosted by The Indian Categorical.
For one factor, Altman — who was in India for a serious AI summit — mentioned issues about AI’s water utilization are “completely pretend,” although he acknowledged it was an actual concern when “we used to do evaporative cooling in knowledge facilities.”
“Now that we don’t try this, you see this stuff on the web the place, ‘Don’t use ChatGPT, it’s 17 gallons of water for every question’ or no matter,” Altman mentioned. “That is fully unfaithful, completely insane, no connection to actuality.”
He added that it’s “truthful” to be involved about “the vitality consumption — not per question, however in complete, as a result of the world is now utilizing a lot AI.” In his view, this implies the world must “transfer in direction of nuclear or wind and photo voltaic in a short time.”
There’s no authorized requirement for tech corporations to reveal how a lot vitality and water they use, so scientists have been attempting to review it independently. Knowledge facilities have additionally been linked to rising electrical energy costs.
Citing a earlier dialog with Invoice Gates, the interviewer requested whether or not it’s correct to say a single ChatGPT question at the moment makes use of the equal of 1.5 iPhone battery costs, to which Altman replied, “There’s no means it’s something near that a lot.”
Altman additionally complained that many discussions about ChatGPT’s vitality utilization are “unfair,” particularly once they deal with “how a lot vitality it takes to coach an AI mannequin, relative to how a lot it prices a human to do one inference question.”
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“But it surely additionally takes a variety of vitality to coach a human,” Altman mentioned. “It takes like 20 years of life and the entire meals you eat throughout that point earlier than you get sensible. And never solely that, it took the very widespread evolution of the 100 billion folks that have ever lived and discovered to not get eaten by predators and discovered how to determine science and no matter, to supply you.”
So in his view, the truthful comparability is, “In the event you ask ChatGPT a query, how a lot vitality does it take as soon as its mannequin is educated to reply that query versus a human? And doubtless, AI has already caught up on an vitality effectivity foundation, measured that means.”
You may watch the complete interview beneath. The dialog about water and vitality utilization begins at round 26:35.
