Post #569021

2026-02-21 06:37 UTC

I understand why LLM enthusiasts don&#39;t want to acknowledge that their tools use a ton of energy, but it&#39;s really frustrating to see people try to downplay the energy usage (&quot;it&#39;s so low per single prompt that it doesn&#39;t really matter!&quot;) while also constantly seeing news like this: https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/19/softbank-to-spend-an-eye-popping-33b-to-build-huge-u-s-gas-power-plant/ If these tools don&#39;t use a ton of energy, then why are companies like SoftBank building the largest natural gas power plant in the US? Why is xAI burning a ton of natural gas in Memphis? Make it make sense. You cannot have it both ways.

Replies (2)

@fancysandwiches@neuromatch.social 2026-02-21 06:45

I'm so happy for you to finally have a tool that can write your code for you so you can collect a 6 figure paycheck for doing essentially nothing. I wish you were forward thinking enough to have any concept of negative externalities. It'd be a lot easier to be excited about these tools if they were sparking our country's investments into solar and wind, but they're not, they're instead being used to justify more investments in fossil fuels. These tools, which were already built by extracting the labor of countless people, are now being used to justify extracting more fossil fuels from the planet so we can increase the rate at which we're cooking the earth.

Open ##2449174
@elexia@catcatnya.com 2026-02-21 08:46

@fancysandwiches@neuromatch.social it's maybe somewhat low per single prompt... but no one ever does just a single prompt and that doesn't include the immense energy costs of training LLMs.

Open ##2449179