[seu]

> And I've vibe coded entire ephemeral apps just to find a single bug because why not - code is suddenly free, ephemeral, malleable, discardable after single use. Vibe coding will terraform software and alter job descriptions.

I'm not super up-to-date on all that's happening in AI-land, but in this quote I can find something that most techno-enthusiast seem to have decided to ignore: no, code is not free. There are immense resources (energy, water, materials) that go into these data centers in order to produce this "free" code. And the material consequences are terribly damaging to thousands of people. With the further construction of data centers to feed this free video coding style, we're further destroying parts of the world. Well done, AGI loverboys.

[Hendrikto]

You know what uses roughly 80 times more water in the US alone than water used by AI data centers world wide? Corn.

[raddan]

Assuming your fact is true, that corn merely uses an order of magnitude or two more water than AI is surprising, given the utility of corn. It feeds the entire US (hundreds of millions of people), is used as animal feed (thus also feeding us), and is widely exported to feed other people. I the spirit of the “I think”s and “I believe”s of this blog post, I think that corn has a lot more utility than AI.

[dwaltrip]

Can you provide numbers relative to things many of us already do?

- drive to the store or to work

- take a shower

- eat meat

- fly on vacation

And so on... thanks!

[Jaxan]

Of those things you mention, I only take showers (but not even everyday). But maybe I’m an outlier.

[monkaiju]

Whats the point of this question? These are things (some) people do while existing as humans, not sure how thats relevant? The AI is consuming vast resources while note existing as a human, it doesnt get some innate privilege to consume some amount of resources like we do.

[fourside]

My guess is that “free” is meant in terms of the old definition where you’re not having to pay someone to create and maintain it. But yes, it’s important to realize there really is a cost here and one that can’t just be captured by a dollar amount.