this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2025
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Fuck AI
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There are LLMs trained using fully open datasets that do not contain proprietary material... (CommonCorpus dataset, OLMo)
There are LLMs trained with minimal power (typically the same ones as above as these projects cannot afford as much resources), and local LLMs use signiciantly less power than a toaster or microwave...
This is a usecase problem. LLMs aren't suitable for critical thinking or decision making tasks, so if it's cutting back on your "critical, active thought" you're just using it wrong anyway...
The OOP genuinely doesn't know what they're talking about and are just reacting to sensationalized rage bait on the internet lmao
Saying it uses less power that a toaster is not much. Yes, it uses less power than a thing that literally turns electricity into pure heat… but that’s sort of a requirement for toast. That’s still a LOT of electricity. And it’s not required. People don’t need to burn down a rainforest to summarize a meeting. Just use your earballs.
Yeah but we're talking a fraction of 1%. A toaster uses 800-1500 watts for minutes, local LLM uses <300 watts for seconds. I toast something almost every day. I'd need to prompt a local LLM literally hundreds of times per day for AI to have a higher impact on the environment than my breakfast, only considering the toasting alone. I make probably around a dozen-ish prompts per week on average.
That's exactly my point, thanks. All kinds of appliances use loads more power than AI. We run them without thinking twice, and there's no anti-toaster movement on the internet claiming there is no ethical toast and you're an asshole for making toast without exception. If a toaster uses a ton of electricity and is acceptable, while a local LLM uses less than 1% of that, then there is no argument to be made against local LLMs on the basis of electricity use.
Your argument just doesn't hold up and could be applied to literally anything that isn't "required". Toast isn't required, you just want it. People could just stop playing video games to save more electricity, video games aren't required. People could stop using social media to save more electricity, TikTok and YouTube's servers aren't required.
Strawman
That's nothing. People aren't required to eat so much meat, it even eat so much food.
I also don't like this energy argument of anti ai, when everything else in our lives already consumes so much.
Valid
You can easily use less power in other ways, too; it's not one or the other. Let's do both.