Many of us have lamented the use of artificial intelligence in everything from writing to images and more.
Sometimes, though, using AI isn't just a bad idea. It also expresses false information. One Reddit user found an AI-generated advertisement for bus company Flixbus that had several European countries mislabeled, some given made-up names, and others located in improbable places, like the middle of the ocean.
This AI image got some things wrong and made the company that used it look at least a little silly. While it is funny to watch a corporation make mistakes like this, it highlights a larger problem for the environment.
Every time people use AI, they are depleting natural resources. Generative AI, like the program they had to use to produce this advertisement, uses massive quantities of electricity and water. The electricity powers the machines doing the computing and the water is circulated to cool them. The quantities here are significant and scary. For instance, as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology points out, AI data centers use seven or eight times more electricity than normal computing efforts do.
This is all after the AI is trained. Harvard University says that the training process itself requires a lot of electricity and emits excess carbon, which can contribute to the rising temperature of Earth. And all of that is outside of the human cost of AI, which gets trained on words and images that people have generated, typically without their permission.
If this issue gets you steamed up, start by trying to make changes where you work. Help establish policies that limit or forbid the use of generative AI in your workplace. You can also talk to people about the environmental problems associated with AI or only use AI that works to be environmentally friendly.
Watch now: How bad is a gas stove for your home's indoor air quality?
Other Redditors agreed that the ad was egregious. "Flixbus needs to get actual artists," one commenter said. Another lamented, "I really don't understand why no one uses post processing for text…are companies this lazy…!?"
Another shared, sarcastically, "Sure do love the city of Itahy in the country of Prague."
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