Here is a fascinating new development. AI may help us to hear, if not subjectively understand, but at least partly understand what animals say to each other.
I would, as ever, be concerned about how some humans may find ways to use this for harm but at least it may teach the world to understand the sentience of animals and identify with their fears and joys.
Thanks for posting. There is so much we donât know about the natural world, yet to find out.
Do bumble bees play? Are they sentient? Seems so, says research.
And then, for every good use of AI, someone finds a less good use
âChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, was used to generate many of the posts. The campaign also created three fake English-language news sites featuring pro-Israel articles.â
Another good one for animals
Thereâs more!
(I think they mean angry rather than insane 
)
And moreâŚ
The porn industry has long had negative influence, not only on those within or using it but also in the wider world when its proclivities are taken as normal.
As for the bots, I donât really think their customers need much realism but if it helps save real women from trouble itâs fine. And, assuming the bot doesnât become sentient.
There is no âIâ in AI 
I was tempted to post this in the EV thread, but this seems a more appropriate and related place.
Just wow!
Iâve long been aware that streaming a movie consumed a lot more power than youâd expect, and and even a simple google enquiry generates quite a bit of CO2, but this is moderately astonishing.
Iâve just started reading a new book this evening and it started with the following preface which seems rather appropriate.
âThe real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.â B.F. SKINNER, Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis
That is an astonishing statistic but is it not a bit misleading? Surely it depends where the electricity comes from. I.e. is it from solar, wind, hydro etc. or from burning oil and coal?
The statistic seems to infer a cracking down on AI rather than doing something about âdirtyâ electricityâ.
As a member of the âNo planet Bâ school of philosophy, we should be concentrating on renewable electricity generation and much greater use of electrical power such as cars, heating, industry etc⌠Fusion used to be âalways 30 years awayâ now it seems to be âalways 10 years away, but we are getting there.
The value came from Google itself. I should expect that, like many large companies, they carefully tracked electricity source and usage and is a real reflection of actual average values, drawing power from renewables and fossil fuels.
The value has nothing to do with cracking down on anything, but if youâre really a âno planet Bâ activist then you need to become informed about how greedy for power it infrastructure is.
While not wishing to minimise the very real impact of climate change etc., I think itâs instructive to remember the Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894:
Humans make problems for themselves but usually find a way out againâŚ
My âno Planet Bâ remark was just a tad tongue in cheek Toni and your âactivistâ description certainly over eggs the pudding (ask the OH)
I am sure Google have chosen the âactual average valuesâ very carefully to make their case.
I am doing my best to understand all this. I think most of that consumption in Ireland was (as I have just learned) from Bitcoin operations in things called âBit Barnsâ. AI has just added some more demand although how much is not quantified. Is all AI computation done in Ireland as well? According to the Climate Change Advisory Council (Whatever that is!) Ireland was one of the EU Member States where the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of electricity generation was higher than the EU average in 2022. The high carbon intensity of Irelandâs electricity generation is largely a result of the continued use of solid fossil fuels for electricity generation.
As you infer, itâs a very complicated subject for mere mortals like me to understand. I think I might switch allegiance to the Great Horse Manure School of philosophy.
A fine choice.
I donât think bitcoin is the issue Mik. That might be easier to fix than the underlying problem.
In 2011 I had possibly the largest datacenter in Ireland, but today it would be dwarfed by the megacentres which have popped up on the Island. Also, because of the size and density of the equipment it used a lot less power per M2 than today.
Due to Irelandâs corporate tax regime many tech companies, even those that already had a presence, beefed up their Irish operations, IBM, for example, grew from 500 HC to 5,000 HC in the mid nineties. Even more so, other companies that had no presence arrived, Google (now 14,000 HC), Amazon (6.5 HC), Facebook, Twitter and many others located their EHQs , sales centres, call centres etc. or some other significant presence so their Europewide profits (ie tax) flowed through Ireland.
Now, of course, unlike thirtyish years ago when datacentres needed to be close to users they can be anywhere in the World, and IMO sensible countries donât want them. There was some excuse when these companies first came to Ireland, but not anymore. They provide minimal employment after the initial construction, and are power black holes. Especially any ones now running Nvidia chips, ie AI.
However, based on their significant employment presence, corporate tax revenue and the threat of reduced future investment, these companies can apply significant leverage (if this wasnât an open forum one might say blackmail) on the Irish Government to be allowed to build megacentres. Though even Apple with its 44 year presence in Ireland has been frustrated, which is a good sign. I think they are now building in the UK.
The standalone megacentre operators, those who I guess would sell raw capacity to, for example, bitcoin companies, donât have that leverage. Though I do rememeber some targeting Ireland as a desination even in my time. I had a tour of one of their facilities, still empty at that stage.
So I think itâs the established firms burning the power not âBit Barnsâ (whatever they are ).
So are you saying artificial intelligence is mostly processed in Ireland. There MUST be a joke in there somewhere!
No, thatâs not what I said Mik, You obviously didnât understand my post, nor in fact how âAIâ works I was trying to explain to you why Ireland has a disproportionate number of megacentres and it is not driven by bitcoin, as you claimed. Iâd like to see your source for that BTW.
Iâm not really sure your last sentence isnât very 1950s, but what the heck 
