Rights, ethics and the argument

Member lesson

The environmental cost

Lesson 10 of 11 in Rights, ethics and the argument.

How Many Steaks Can One AI Video vs. AI Image Cook? | WSJ · The Wall Street Journal
Lesson

Running these models uses real electricity and real water, and published estimates of how much vary widely because the companies involved disclose little. What is not in dispute is that generation is more expensive per request than search, and that data centre demand is growing quickly.

Four finished prints hang on a line in the foreground. The line stretches back across a field, holding hundreds of discarded prints, to a large windowless building with soft steam rising. A water pipe and a power cable run beside it.
Four prints delivered, hundreds made, and a building using power and water at the end of the line.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The energy used each time a model runs. Small per request, large in aggregate.”

    • Platform labelling
    • Inference cost
    • Deskilling
    • Training cost
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The energy of the original run. Enormous, and paid once.”

    • Training cost
    • Stripping
    • Attribution
    • Sectoral rule
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Water used for cooling. A local issue where facilities are built in dry regions.”

    • Attribution
    • Sectoral rule
    • Memorisation
    • Data centre water

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