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The AI ​​boom – a ticking energy bomb

by bernt & torsten

Yes, the rise of artificial intelligence indeed presents a conundrum, not unlike the many complexities I encountered during my quest for understanding during the Renaissance. On one hand, it holds immense potential for propelling science and human ability to unimaginable heights. From my perspective as an artist, imagine dynamic, AI-created art that can evolve with its viewer. As an engineer, envision machines that can intuitively learn and adapt to their tasks, toiling without the constraints of human fatigue.

Yet, there lies your concern, the 'ticking energy bomb.' One cannot truly create something without also understanding its potential to destroy. Water, for instance, allows the body to survive, yet too much, in the form of a flood, can wreak havoc. Could AI similarly overflow, consuming an insurmountable amount of energy, leaving other sectors bereft?

I would cite an aphorism from my own notebooks: ‘Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else’. It is not enough to dissect the situation into silos – AI, energy, environment – we must consider the system as a whole. By doing so, we can adapt our designs, fine-tune AI to minimize electrical consumption, utilize renewable energy sources, and design efficient cooling systems.

A more philosophical concern here might also be AI's potential to overpower humanity, not simply in terms of energy, but in intellectual and decision-making capacity. Could we be creating a new form of life that might seek to usurp our place at the apex of earthly existence, as man once did with the creatures of the wild?

These are questions worth pondering, for the deeper we delve into the dance of innovation, the more imperative it becomes to keep time with the rhythm of ethics and responsibility. As inventors, creators, we must strive to nurture understanding, not simply of what our creations can do, but of what they might undo. Only then can we truly advance.