Machine Learning

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Will machine learning be known as bad for the environment? (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by Ok_Reality2341@alien.top to c/machinelearning@academy.garden

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In my masters degree I always ran many computations as did all my peers

The reality is that more of us are than not are using huge HPC clusters / cloud computing for many hours on each project

The industry is just GPUs going BRRR

I’m wondering if this has potential implications for ML in society as AI/ML becomes more mainstream

I could see this narrative being easily played in legacy media

Ps - yeah while there are researchers trying to make things more efficient, the general trend is that we are using more GPU hours per year in order to continue innovation at the forefront of artificial inference

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[–] semicausal@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

"Bad for the environment" is a bit too vague IMO to take meaningful action and drive change. Some products use machine learning to detect illegal logging or capture useful environmental data. In those cases, ML is being used to HELP the environment.

So I would zoom in more on the specific issues and externalities you want to resolve.

One simple shortcut is to electrify your entire setup and then ensure that only renewable energy is providing your electricity.

[–] jefe_daboss@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

It's an interesting question, imo if a narrative like this were pushed by the media it would be unlikely to gain any traction. Energy usage whether for AI development or for cooking hot pockets isn't inherently bad for the environment. Most methods of power generation have some impacts regarding CO2 but environmental impact overall is more a question of grid efficiency and sustainable generation capacity rather than some arbitrary increase of energy demand on the grid.

[–] hpstring@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Better than crypto mining. At least produces some research results.