I tried to post this to Reddit but for some reason it keeps getting removed by filters. I normally just lurk on Lemmy but I decided to make an account because I’m so over that stupid platform.

ANYWAY

Last night on my flight home I noticed that the person in front of me was using ChatGPT. I got nosy so I looked closer and found out that they were actually using ChatGPT to write the content for a program of a sustainability and climate conference. They specifically included a section about “dirty” energy sources and the harm that results from energy producers supplying data centers. I was floored.

I am not sure if this was the final product or just a draft, but I find it pretty gross and ironic that the AI that is fueling the climate crisis and responsible for the rapid development of data centers that are doing irreparable damage to local communities and ecosystems is being employed to create the materials for a sustainability conference. Maybe start with looking in the mirror first?

I looked up the company, and turns out this program might be part of a Keynote Livestream that is featuring the Mayor of San Fransisco lol.

    • wheezy@lemmy.mlEnglish
      53·
      9 days ago

      OP is so focused on AI that they didn’t even get that. It’s weird to be flying on a plane and concerned about the environmental impact of a single person using AI for (at least) a positive position.

      Their is more irony in OPs own situation than there is in the person they were attempting to criticize.

      • apprehensivecrab1@lemmy.worldOP
        41·
        9 days ago

        I see why you’re concerned, but I had to travel across the country for a wedding. The travel was necessary. You are creating a false equivalency between my necessary travel schedule requiring my to fly only one time this year because of an obligation to a loved one, and the person’s entirely unnecessary, daily AI use that is a result of their own laziness. Hope this helps!

        • joostjakob@lemmy.world
          2·
          9 days ago

          I would say that its mostly about the conference goer. We’re so used to the absurd level of waste of a flight, that we are bothered by the comparatively tiny waste of an AI query. Just like we’re bothered by avocados but not red meat.