I agree the energy cost is concerning. And we are lucky we don't have unlimited coal, unlimited power and unlimited GPUs because we'd hit 4 degrees warming by Christmas with everyone trying it out.
The human brain is a salient point because often we are using AI so that the human brain can do less. Get this GPU to RTFM instead of the human. The human time is more valuable. All the while making the human brain probably less effective (compare someone who learns another language vs. someone who speaks it through an AI translator only).
I hold both points of view that AI is both marvelous, but also concerning in terms of energy use.
To nitpick - in " NNs are to emergent behavior what crypto is to cash " applies more to large language models. Simpler NNs for easy tasks that don't consume much power wouldn't apply (that might be like a VISA card?)
The human brain is a salient point because often we are using AI so that the human brain can do less. Get this GPU to RTFM instead of the human. The human time is more valuable. All the while making the human brain probably less effective (compare someone who learns another language vs. someone who speaks it through an AI translator only).
I hold both points of view that AI is both marvelous, but also concerning in terms of energy use.
To nitpick - in " NNs are to emergent behavior what crypto is to cash " applies more to large language models. Simpler NNs for easy tasks that don't consume much power wouldn't apply (that might be like a VISA card?)