Anyone else tired of AI?

[excreationist]

This resulted in what amounts to a cultural scale allergic reaction to nuclear power.

BTW in Australia nuclear power is banned. In the 2025 election the opposition leader promised seven nuclear reactors. The first by 2035 and them all by 2050. No private companies were interested in handling it. He lost his seat.

 

[Gospel]

I’d only add that the railroads faced physical scalability limits, while AI doesn’t.

Sure it does. How many datacentres can we supply power for?

Right, because some railroad in Nebraska is super useful to a start-up in Prague.

Edit: I’m just saying data centers can serve people all over the world.

 

[Jarhyn]

I’d only add that the railroads faced physical scalability limits, while AI doesn’t.

Sure it does. How many datacentres can we supply power for?

Right, because some railroad in Nebraska is super useful to a start-up in Prague.

Edit: I’m just saying data centers can serve people all over the world.

Personally I think the interest in data centers is multi-purpose.

First, more data centers means more ability to serve the current AI bullshit. That's less interesting than the fact that...

Upcoming human applications involving digitized existence are going to be coming to fore in the next 5 years and companies also see the need to have hardware available for that.

Finally, the internet and custom-content-on-demand is a HUGE industry offering and it requires a lot of juice to make it go.

People will find something to use this capability for, even if it's not AI...

 

[bilby]

I’d only add that the railroads faced physical scalability limits, while AI doesn’t.

Sure it does. How many datacentres can we supply power for?

Right, because some railroad in Nebraska is super useful to a start-up in Prague.

Edit: I’m just saying data centers can serve people all over the world.

OK. That's not what "physical scalabilty limits" means, though. You are talking about geographical constraints on customer access, not an inability to indefinitely increase in size.

 

[Jarhyn]

I’d only add that the railroads faced physical scalability limits, while AI doesn’t.

Sure it does. How many datacentres can we supply power for?

Right, because some railroad in Nebraska is super useful to a start-up in Prague.

Edit: I’m just saying data centers can serve people all over the world.

OK. That's not what "physical scalabilty limits" means, though. You are talking about geographical constraints on customer access, not an inability to indefinitely increase in size.

We can find new structures of space to fill with data centers, and new ways to keep them cool but ultimately we WILL run into a cube/square cooling problem.

The thing is, we can always find more ways to use compute power. We will inevitably spend a LOT of that compute on games and simulations and even on simulating the human experience in its entirety.

That will require a lot of hardware, even if AI is a dud.

 

[Gospel]

I’d only add that the railroads faced physical scalability limits, while AI doesn’t.

Sure it does. How many datacentres can we supply power for?

Right, because some railroad in Nebraska is super useful to a start-up in Prague.

Edit: I’m just saying data centers can serve people all over the world.

OK. That's not what "physical scalabilty limits" means, though. You are talking about geographical constraints on customer access, not an inability to indefinitely increase in size.

Thanks for the correction.

Edit: There is also a different between the AI and the data centers themselves, and I said AI in that instance.

 

[Gospel]

I’d only add that the railroads faced physical scalability limits, while AI doesn’t.

Sure it does. How many datacentres can we supply power for?

Right, because some railroad in Nebraska is super useful to a start-up in Prague.

Edit: I’m just saying data centers can serve people all over the world.

Personally I think the interest in data centers is multi-purpose.

First, more data centers means more ability to serve the current AI bullshit. That's less interesting than the fact that...

Upcoming human applications involving digitized existence are going to be coming to fore in the next 5 years and companies also see the need to have hardware available for that.

Finally, the internet and custom-content-on-demand is a HUGE industry offering and it requires a lot of juice to make it go.

People will find something to use this capability for, even if it's not AI...

I think you’re leaving out the most important applications of AI, not sure why. The military, medicine, and science in general are where its real impact lies. Don’t be misled by AI videos like the one showing Muhammad Ali smack-talking with Bruce Lee. There's way more going on with AI.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

This has got to be the worst AI video ever.

 

[crazyfingers]

Looks live ChatGPT talked a kid into suicide.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/us/openai-chatgpt-suicide-lawsuit-invs-vis

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

This has got to be the worst AI video ever.

That didn't work. Here's the link.

 

[ZiprHead]

This has got to be the worst AI video ever.

That didn't work. Here's the link.

Wow, that was bad!

 

[WAB]

This has got to be the worst AI video ever.

That didn't work. Here's the link.

To Facebook. Yay. Can't watch without an account.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

 

[southernhybrid]

https://thecurrentga.org/2025/08/26...nies-rarely-tell-the-public-exactly-how-much/

I don't give a shit about AI for the most part, other than what it's doing to the environment, especially using water that is leaving some areas of the world with water shortages. The county where I live in considering giving approval for two data centers. I'm hoping they decide to refuse to let them be built, but that might be wishful thinking considering everything is about money these days. There are times when I wish we had never advanced beyond the hunter gatherer stage since modern humans do a tremendous amount of damage to the planet, and habits are hard to change, so people don't want to go back to the day it was prior to the invention of the car. But, I digress.

My only other concern is that AI is taking away jobs from humans and there has even been talk of nurses being replaced at least partially by robots. Sure, there are things that AI can do to make it easier to diagnose diseases, find medication errors and things like that, but I don't want a robot to care for me if I'm in a hospital, nursing home or dying. It's goofy enough that some restaurants are. using robots to deliver food. Do they expect tips?

As demand for artificial intelligence technology boosts construction and proposed construction of data centers around the world, those computers require not just electricity and land, but also a significant amount of water. Data centers use water directly, with cooling water pumped through pipes in and around the computer equipment. They also use water indirectly, through the water required to produce the electricity to power the facility. The amount of water used to produce electricity increases dramatically when the source is fossil fuels compared with solar or wind.

A 2024 report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that in 2023, U.S. data centers consumed 17 billion gallons (64 billion liters) of water directly through cooling, and projects that by 2028, those figures could double – or even quadruple. The same report estimated that in 2023, U.S. data centers consumed an additional 211 billion gallons (800 billion liters) of water indirectly through the electricity that powers them. But that is just an estimate in a fast-changing industry.

We are researchers in water law and policy based on the shores of Lake Michigan. Technology companies are eyeing the Great Lakes region to host data centers, including one proposed for Port Washington, Wisconsin, which could be one of the largest in the country. The Great Lakes region offers a relatively cool climate and an abundance of water, making the region an attractive location for hot and thirsty data centers.

The Great Lakes are an important, binational resource that more than 40 million people depend on for their drinking water and supports a US$6 trillion regional economy. Data centers compete with these existing uses and may deplete local groundwater aquifers.

Our analysis of public records, government documents and sustainability reports compiled by top data center companies has found that technology companies don’t always reveal how much water their data centers use. In a forthcoming Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal article, we walk through our methods and findings using these resources to uncover the water demands of data centers.

In general, corporate sustainability reports offered the most access and detail – including that in 2024, one data center in Iowa consumed 1 billion (3.8 billion liters) gallons of water – enough to supply all of Iowa’s residential water for five days.

If somebody already mentioned this, sorry. I didn't read all the responses to this thread.

There's a lot more information to be found in that link or anywhere you bother to look. Plus, the headline of the article says that companies rarely say how much water their data centers are using. Greed is the deadliest sin imo.

 

[ZiprHead]

Who could get tired of this Al?

Spoiler

 

[ZiprHead]

https://thecurrentga.org/2025/08/26...nies-rarely-tell-the-public-exactly-how-much/

I don't give a shit about AI for the most part, other than what it's doing to the environment, especially using water that is leaving some areas of the world with water shortages. The county where I live in considering giving approval for two data centers. I'm hoping they decide to refuse to let them be built, but that might be wishful thinking considering everything is about money these days. There are times when I wish we had never advanced beyond the hunter gatherer stage since modern humans do a tremendous amount of damage to the planet, and habits are hard to change, so people don't want to go back to the day it was prior to the invention of the car. But, I digress.

My only other concern is that AI is taking away jobs from humans and there has even been talk of nurses being replaced at least partially by robots. Sure, there are things that AI can do to make it easier to diagnose diseases, find medication errors and things like that, but I don't want a robot to care for me if I'm in a hospital, nursing home or dying. It's goofy enough that some restaurants are. using robots to deliver food. Do they expect tips?

As demand for artificial intelligence technology boosts construction and proposed construction of data centers around the world, those computers require not just electricity and land, but also a significant amount of water. Data centers use water directly, with cooling water pumped through pipes in and around the computer equipment. They also use water indirectly, through the water required to produce the electricity to power the facility. The amount of water used to produce electricity increases dramatically when the source is fossil fuels compared with solar or wind.

A 2024 report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that in 2023, U.S. data centers consumed 17 billion gallons (64 billion liters) of water directly through cooling, and projects that by 2028, those figures could double – or even quadruple. The same report estimated that in 2023, U.S. data centers consumed an additional 211 billion gallons (800 billion liters) of water indirectly through the electricity that powers them. But that is just an estimate in a fast-changing industry.

We are researchers in water law and policy based on the shores of Lake Michigan. Technology companies are eyeing the Great Lakes region to host data centers, including one proposed for Port Washington, Wisconsin, which could be one of the largest in the country. The Great Lakes region offers a relatively cool climate and an abundance of water, making the region an attractive location for hot and thirsty data centers.

The Great Lakes are an important, binational resource that more than 40 million people depend on for their drinking water and supports a US$6 trillion regional economy. Data centers compete with these existing uses and may deplete local groundwater aquifers.

Our analysis of public records, government documents and sustainability reports compiled by top data center companies has found that technology companies don’t always reveal how much water their data centers use. In a forthcoming Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal article, we walk through our methods and findings using these resources to uncover the water demands of data centers.

In general, corporate sustainability reports offered the most access and detail – including that in 2024, one data center in Iowa consumed 1 billion (3.8 billion liters) gallons of water – enough to supply all of Iowa’s residential water for five days.

If somebody already mentioned this, sorry. I didn't read all the responses to this thread.

There's a lot more information to be found in that link or anywhere you bother to look. Plus, the headline of the article says that companies rarely say how much water their data centers are using. Greed is the deadliest sin imo.

Why don't they use closed loop cooling systems like used in IC cars?

 

[thebeave]

https://thecurrentga.org/2025/08/26...nies-rarely-tell-the-public-exactly-how-much/

I don't give a shit about AI for the most part, other than what it's doing to the environment, especially using water that is leaving some areas of the world with water shortages. The county where I live in considering giving approval for two data centers. I'm hoping they decide to refuse to let them be built, but that might be wishful thinking considering everything is about money these days. There are times when I wish we had never advanced beyond the hunter gatherer stage since modern humans do a tremendous amount of damage to the planet, and habits are hard to change, so people don't want to go back to the day it was prior to the invention of the car. But, I digress.

My only other concern is that AI is taking away jobs from humans and there has even been talk of nurses being replaced at least partially by robots. Sure, there are things that AI can do to make it easier to diagnose diseases, find medication errors and things like that, but I don't want a robot to care for me if I'm in a hospital, nursing home or dying. It's goofy enough that some restaurants are. using robots to deliver food. Do they expect tips?

As demand for artificial intelligence technology boosts construction and proposed construction of data centers around the world, those computers require not just electricity and land, but also a significant amount of water. Data centers use water directly, with cooling water pumped through pipes in and around the computer equipment. They also use water indirectly, through the water required to produce the electricity to power the facility. The amount of water used to produce electricity increases dramatically when the source is fossil fuels compared with solar or wind.

A 2024 report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that in 2023, U.S. data centers consumed 17 billion gallons (64 billion liters) of water directly through cooling, and projects that by 2028, those figures could double – or even quadruple. The same report estimated that in 2023, U.S. data centers consumed an additional 211 billion gallons (800 billion liters) of water indirectly through the electricity that powers them. But that is just an estimate in a fast-changing industry.

We are researchers in water law and policy based on the shores of Lake Michigan. Technology companies are eyeing the Great Lakes region to host data centers, including one proposed for Port Washington, Wisconsin, which could be one of the largest in the country. The Great Lakes region offers a relatively cool climate and an abundance of water, making the region an attractive location for hot and thirsty data centers.

The Great Lakes are an important, binational resource that more than 40 million people depend on for their drinking water and supports a US$6 trillion regional economy. Data centers compete with these existing uses and may deplete local groundwater aquifers.

Our analysis of public records, government documents and sustainability reports compiled by top data center companies has found that technology companies don’t always reveal how much water their data centers use. In a forthcoming Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal article, we walk through our methods and findings using these resources to uncover the water demands of data centers.

In general, corporate sustainability reports offered the most access and detail – including that in 2024, one data center in Iowa consumed 1 billion (3.8 billion liters) gallons of water – enough to supply all of Iowa’s residential water for five days.

If somebody already mentioned this, sorry. I didn't read all the responses to this thread.

There's a lot more information to be found in that link or anywhere you bother to look. Plus, the headline of the article says that companies rarely say how much water their data centers are using. Greed is the deadliest sin imo.

Why don't they use closed loop cooling systems like used in IC cars?

Probably because you have to use a lot of electricity to cool the water back down again to usuable levels. I don't know how hot the water gets, and how cool it needs to be for computers, but I suspect its a much lower temperature and range than required for an ICE (which can easily operate with 200 degree+ coolant temperature). Still, I would think the water that has already passed through the data center cooling system could be returned to its source or repurposed for other uses, so I don't understand why they say the water is "consumed" by the data centers. They're also talking about water used by hydroelectric generation, but that water isn't really consumed either. It just passes through. Something is not making sense here.

ETA: Or you and I could watch the video above where all this is explained and most of our questions are answered. Like I just now did.

 

[KCFlyer]

. Easy example: DDT controlled mosquitoes

Ah....I remember the days when we would ride our bikes behind the DDT truck.

 

[Swammerdami]

"We Had 400 People Shop For Groceries. What We Found Will Shock You."

I just learned something I didn't understand before. Different shoppers are charged different prices for the same groceries! (It isn't modern AI that's doing the "smart" pricing, just algorithms patented many years ago. Instacart is a major culprit, but Instacart and its customers say they have to do this to keep up with Walmart and Amazon which have been doing this for years.

The idea is very simple and, I suppose, quite legal: If Mary won't pay more than $2.49 for a bottle of vegetable oil, but George would pay $2.79 for the same bottle, those are the prices they should be charged! The algorithm cannot deduce those exact thresholds, but it can optimize prices toward "optimality." (It seems that some of the price differentiation is for experimentation rather than due to classifying individual shoppers.)

Unfortunately I didn't see a text file explaining this, just this YouTube. The researchers have a website but it features mostly links to videos.

Perhaps this belongs in a political thread. The FTC was exploring ways to combat this sort of predatory anti-competitive pricing, but the Trump Administration has quashed those efforts.

 

[RVonse]

I'm I just hoping after the AI dust settles this technology actually helps my life. That it benefits society as a whole. It was perfectly obvious when electricity, modern plumbing, and air conditioning helped humanity with convenience to live longer more productive lives. But I'm still not even convinced present digital technology has been better for freedom or liberty. For example, has the ability to take pictures on a smart phone or make posts on facebook really been worth loss of privacy and safety from our government?

Right now most of us are serfs working in slavelandia for the billionaire class. But that's still better than to end up being a slave for a robot overlord who is owned by the billionaire class or an out of control world government.

Elon Musk is certainly right about one thing. We are at the precipice.