Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
After avoiding AI/LLLMs like the plague, I've been asking Duck.ai some fairly detailed questions, and have been, admittedly, pretty impressed with the results (after checking its references of course). For an oldster like me, it turns the search process on its head: a regular search turns up x hits, and I try to choose what appear to be the most reputable sites among them to find an answer, and then dig through text to find it; now I'm given the answer right away, and then I just have to check and make sure that it's actually correct.
Anyway, Mrs. Erinaceus keeps reminding me that AI sucks up huge amounts of energy (and water, too, apparently), much of it not from renewable sources. So my question is, is there any "acceptable" AI that has a good reputation for not serving slop and is also easy on the environment? Should I even be using AI at all? Mainly concerned about the environment here, I like to think I've been round long enough to have relatively well-developed bullshit detectors. Obviously want to avoid Big Tech LLMs too, unless there's some way of using them without them getting any benefit from it.
If you run it on your own hardware then you know exactly how much energy it's using. Some of the models can even run on the average computer, but the quality is not great.
The problem we have right now is where everyone is trying to use generative AI for everything, all the time, even for basic takes such as googling for a fact, simple math that could be done on a calculator, etc. They're also often using the latest and greatest AI models, which are powerful and spend a lot of processing power each time. In order to run the servers to respond to all that, companies use a large amount of power, and then use water to cool the servers. That's the water usage from what I understand.
So if you use a simpler / more efficient model, and only use it for tasks where it's better than conventional tools, you'll be doing much better power usage wise.
BTW, are the Chinese way ahead of the US in this like they are with renewables and electric cars? They'll probably figure out a way to have AI use significantly less power before "we" can.
The real power consumption cost is from the model training. The marginal cost of running a query is small. Unless you use LLMs heavily, you probably use more power in many other ways, like if you forget to put your computer to sleep.
More training means better models, generally. If you want to minimize that, look for smaller models on HuggingFace that are more tightly focused on whatever task you have at hand.
Or, you could just do most of your queries when your local electricity mix has more renewables.
Unlike other kids in Massachusetts, students living in one Boston suburb won’t be able to go back to school next month unless they’ve had their chickenpox and measles shots, as well as other routine childhood vaccinations.
The Instagram account of a well known anti-Zionist Jewish comedian was deleted after Meta’s Public Policy Director for Israel and the Jewish Diaspora viewed one of his stories. This is just one example of the anti-Palestinian bias across Big Tech.
Former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz claimed "if you want to kill Hamas," you "have to kill the civilians who are being used as human shields."
L’altro giorno ho pensato, per un singolo micragnoso attimo, quanto strano sarebbe se per tutto il mese di giugno, o comunque giù di lì, il mio gaming commesso ammontasse a zero (0), o comunque giù di lì… ma è impossibile, vero? Ehh, insomma… Da un lato io non riesco a ricordare alcun momento di gaming […]
la mancanza del gaming in quella estate della strambezza
L’altro giorno ho pensato, per un singolo micragnoso attimo, quanto strano sarebbe se per tutto il mese di giugno, o comunque giù di lì, il mio gaming commesso ammontasse a zero (0), o comunque giù di lì… ma è impossibile, vero? Ehh, insomma… Da un lato io non riesco a ricordare alcun momento di gaming da questo mesetto, e ciò francamente mi torna, viste tutte le altre cose in cui mi sono invece cacciata… e, dall’altro lato, ora che sto ripensando a questo fatto mi viene in mente che io non ho (quasi) aperto letteralmente nessun gioco… nemmeno Pikmin Bloom. (Ma nemmeno altri a caso.) 😳
Con Pikmin in particolare la situazione è complicata, da una moltitudine di fattori che tutti insieme fanno salire lo zzz, e quindi passa la voglia di giocare. Innanzitutto, il gioco lo ho sempre solo sul tablet, perché richiede non solo i servizi Goolag ma anche la Slave Integrity… e se i primi posso averli sul telefono con la MIUI cinese usando quelle varie VM, la seconda no. Avendolo solo sul tablet, visto che il gioco è improntato sulla geolocalizzazione, a casa c’è poco da giocare, e fuori difficilmente ho il tablet… a maggior ragione ora che non ho lezioni all’università, e quindi che in quel campus infernale ci vado solo quando qualcuno piega il mio libretto cartaceo (…che non ho, nessuno lo ha ormai, ma dettagli) a forma di coltello e me lo punta alla gola, ricordandomi che “è troppo vuoto“… mentre in posti a caso, il tablet ovviamente non lo porto. Comunque sia, poi, ci mette sempre il suo mezzo minuto buono a partire e collegarsi al server, per poi girare assolutamente di culo; sospetto sia uno dei giochi Unity peggio ottimizzati degli ultimi anni… E infine, avendo raggiunto il limite delle piantine, perché non riesco a smaltirle in tempo (servono tanti passi, ma ops, tablet), a inizio mese ho preso l’abitudine di mandare i Pikmin a fare le missioni senza poi cliccare per ritirare gli oggetti, e in giusto un paio di giorni sono finita per avere letteralmente tutti di loro in stallo, senza poterli quindi mandare in altre missioni, se prima non ritiro la roba… ma non posso ritirare solo la frutta (perché la UX di questo gioco è terribile), quando vorrei tenere solo le piantine in bilico… È un così fottuto troiaio che non voglio nemmeno elaborare oltre! 😤 Quelle che riguardano gli schiavetti dei fiori, però, sono più in generale rogne riguardo il gaming moderno, che è sempre più sconveniente, con queste connessioni ai server, le prestazioni scarse, i limiti artificiali messi per indurre a spendere di più (e scemi loro se credono di riuscirci con me, che sono ipertirchia… no, semplicemente finisco involontariamente per non usare più il gioco, lol)… Ma, per l’appunto, questo mese è comunque crollato tutto il gaming. A parte aprire Pikmin per poi ricordare che è tutto in questo stato penoso e quindi subito richiuderlo (potrei buttare le piantine, ma non voglio), credo che avrò aperto al massimo una o due volte il Picross o il Sudoku sul telefono, e poi letteralmente basta. In altre parole, l’unico gaming che ho fatto non lo è in senso stretto, è roba tranquillamente da enigmistica cartacea… come sono caduta in alto! L’unica cosa tosta che avrei un minimo voglia di giocare è Animal Crossing (…molto tosto), ma non ho mai davvero voglia di metterci il tempo che puntualmente potrei meglio spendere a pianificare e narrare il mio marcimento, o a leggere degli altrui marcimenti da libri e tomi, come sempre più si addice a questa estate 2025… e allora ciccia. 🏜️
Quindi, che dire… il rotting di giugno e le sue distrazioni imposte mi hanno accidentalmente disintossicato dalla malattia del gaming??? Ho per caso già così facilmente perso il vergognoso titolo ignobiliare di “gamer”, perché queste altre cose hanno preso il sopravvento già più del tanto che già mi è solito? …Purtroppo, per quanto mi piacerebbe, credo proprio che no, e che, una volta che si è ormai caduti nella trappola del gioco, lo stigma lo si avrà per sempre, nonostante gli “incidenti felici” che capitano per la via della vita e portano a distaccarsi dal vizio del demonio… pazienza. Proverò a nascondere il mio passato e, se qualcuno lo scoprirà, dunque interrogandomi su questo mio attributo di “gamer”, gli dirò che è soltanto perché leggo visual novel… che tecnicamente è vero (anche se nel mese passato non me n’è capitata nessuna). “Giuro, signor giudice, non sono più una giocatrice!!!” 🤯
I do it a lot with my comments because I'm older and my grammar is terrible but I feel like I have ideas I would like to share but struggle to make them sound clear or even concise.
My longer ranty grammatically poor comments are me. My clearer comments that get better engagement from people and understanding are my comments that I asked chatgpt to improve.
I don't see why this is a bad thing. It is a chat tool. I like tech. I'm all for anyone using a language tool to produce language based products. As long as it isn't doing the work and is being reviewed then I would question anyone who isn't using it.
Here I'll run this comment through AI again to show the improvement:
I'd never let AI "write" a paper of mines. As a non-native speaker, the farther I went is to ask chatgpt or the likes to rephrase something for conciseness or clarity.
And 99.135% of scientific papers were checked by a spell checker. This is such a non-issue. Overleaf has AI built in to help with wording; a reviewer recommended I run my paper through AI to improve it. AI is tool like any other and there’s nothing wrong with using it.
If it can help you to express better what you need to portray, then its the right tool for the job.
I would then use my own tool to remove the fluff and filler. I just hope that would come off by default. I don't need 3 paragraphs answers for numers, graphs, yes or no questions.
Following the news that 9,000 people are being laid off at the company, one Xbox executive offered some questionable words of advice for people on their way ...
Following the news that 9,000 people are being laid off at the company, one Xbox executive offered some questionable words of advice for people on their way ...
Following the news that 9,000 people are being laid off at the company, one Xbox executive offered some questionable words of advice for people on their way ...
Proton.me: "We will be adding Monero as a payment option for our VPN plans by the end of Summer 2025. Source: https://x.com/davidgpeterson/status/1941500514803548636" protonmail.uservoice.com/forum…
Old Glory Club has at least 26 chapters with participants including military personnel, lawyers and civil servants
A nationwide US network of dozens of far-right, men-only fraternal clubs has what members describe as “literally hundreds” of participants who include past and currently serving military personnel, lawyers, civil servants, and prominent antisemitic influencers, a Guardian investigation can reveal.
The Old Glory Club (OGC) – which has at least 26 chapters in 20 US states and until now has drawn little attention – exemplifies the alarming rise of organized racist political groups in the past few years but especially during the rise of Donald Trump and his return to the White House.
The OGC network has held conferences, meetups and other events. Key members like podcaster Pete Quinones use their platforms to push far-right ideas about Jewish people and immigrants. Other members have used their platforms to respond to political events, and to advocate measures including “cancellation insurance” for members whose extreme political views might impede their professional lives.
We wanted to give you all a heads-up that over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be making some changes to how things work on Nexus Mods in regards to Adult content, child safety online and our ong...
Meme image using a meme format called "What Pride Flag Is That?" or "So Are You Like Gay Or Something?", using a webcomic made by sarahmhops. It depicts 2 girls in a shared room, presumably at college / university. The girl on the left is hanging a flag on her wall.
Roommate: "So, are you like, gay or something?
Girl: "What?"
Roommate: "What Pride flag is that?"
Girl: "..." (expressionless shock)
In the original, the flag being hung is the Italian flag. In this edit, it's the fediverse symbol on a white background. The fediverse symbol shown is a proposed design from 2018 called the fedigram. It is a rainbow-coloured pentagon shape, with all diagonals connected and circles at the points, like nodes. The design reflects the interconnected nature of the fediverse, with multiple different software platforms all connected to each other.
Canvas is a collaborative pixel canvas that includes everyone apart of the Fediverse! Any fediverse platform that supports direct messages is able to login and participate for this 48 hour live event
You're invited to talk on Matrix. If you don't already have a client this link will help you pick one, and join the conversation. If you already have one, this link will help you join the conversation
Considering the current intrusive cyber climate, what are the best ways to preserve privacy?
For example, I have been exclusively using a VPN connection network-wide at home setup on OpenWrt, which in turn has a PiHole as its DNS, with the PiHole using Unbound and NextDNS (redundant I know, but I use it to encrypt my requests more than anything else).
I also have Wireguard setup so I can VPN all my devices to my network while I am on the road (also have a NextDNS profile installed. Yes I know, it’s redundant).
I also basically have all my “smart” devices (TV, lightbulbs, air purifier, etc…) at home cutoff from the internet using OpenWrt’s firewall to prevent them from calling home.
I rotate web browsers frequently to try and attempt avoiding getting fingerprinted, not sure how useful that is.
I switched email providers to mailbox.org because f*** Google and Microsoft.
I also am hosting my own cloud drive on Nextcloud to avoid using services like GDrive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc…
I own Apple devices which aren’t the best for privacy but migrating from a whole ecosystem that I have been embedded in for MANY years is easier said than done. Hopefully in the future that’s my next move.
I feel like there is a lot more I can do but I am not sure what else. I would appreciate any and all suggestions ya’ll might have.
EDIT: I’m not being too extreme with my caution as some comments are making it sound to be. I am a very average person who is privacy conscious yet realize being cut off from the internet and society is not realistic. I guess my threat model is your basic “day-to-day it’s non of your business who am I online or what I do, please don’t profile/fingerprint me, I am just a passerby” kinda threat model.
Aside from iOS, I am already there. Soon enough, I hope, I will migrate from Apple’s ecosystem. Already have my Linux box setup and functional recently. One step at a time.
Get rid of all the connected stuff entirely, delete all your online accounts, get rid of your cell phone and similar devices, start paying cash for everything. Close your bank accounts and keep your money under your mattress. Move into the woods, grow your own food, and don't talk to anyone.
There is a lot, and there are a lot of levels. I am working on this now as well. Escalating from where I was, its a learning process. Too much to type in a single comment/response.
If you would like more info on removing your info from the internet, reducing the amount of spyware on your android phone, de-googling yourself, or limiting how much info you spill while you browse, we can connect and I can share what I have been doing. Ive got plenty I still need to do beyond this, but I am happy to share my lessons learned as it were.
You pretty much got the foundational stuff plus a little more established. Aside from getting away from Apple, which you already mentioned, there's not much more I can think of without going full tinfoil hat. The main thing, in my opinion, is just not being a wide open door and giving away your personal data freely. Sounds like you're there, so long as you don't have social media accounts.
More encryption is the only thing I would think worthy of mention since I don't see that listed anywhere. Encrypted messengers, encrypted storage, encrypted emails.
The measures you’ve taken are more than enough for your threat model. I think it now depends on your data hygiene. Weakest link kinda thing, where it doesn’t matter if your home network is locked down and you use privacy friendly services if you’re careless with your data anyway; which I assume you aren’t.
To your point, one example that comes to mind is that I have read many people complaining about cloudflare, saying it’s “evil” and over extending. While I agree on the aspect of Cloudflare being sort of a monopoly, I am not sure what else to use to route some of my traffic to my services running at home without explicitly opening up ports to the internet by using a reverse proxy for example.
In that regard, Cloudflare has access to my traffic and data could theoretically leak that way, but I am not sure what is a safer and better alternative to it.
All data is routed through somewhere you don't have control over at some point. If everything is encrypted then you are fine. You could setup a vps and proxy through that instead of Cloudflare, but you are just relying on the vps provider to protect any data/not snoop then rather than Cloudflare.
The only real way to be completely private is to just avoid connecting to the internet at all, but that's not really feasible. Just get to a point where you are comfortable, you've already done more than most to protect yourself (as much as you can without it getting silly anyway). Good job!
You are still exposed by using Apple products. Use linux for PC's with encryption, vpn. For a phone, switch to device, such as a Google Pixel, or several other manufacturers that can use a privacy android rom. I use CalyxOS, private, secure and de-googled.
Lets not forget...operation PRISM which was exposed by Snowden.
A bit late, but you might find useful information in this book: blog.nowherejezfoltodf4jiyl6r5… Not all of it might be relevant to you, i.e. you are probably not doing anything that would require plausible deniability, and probably some other things. But it has some really good info, in my opinion.
Just looking at what the USA is doing in Gaza, and what they are planning to do to their own most vulnerable population; I'd say they are experts in starving people.
Can the US please fuck off already! Enough with the impotent world policing. Let’s welcome Cuba into participation with the rest of the world. America needs to quit the embargo’s and stop red baiting. It’s fucking tiresome AF.
The group is free...and already has 45 members ready to go next week when we officially start! We'll follow the checklist here. It will be a casual group for accountability and support.
I can help based on my experiences, we can all support each other, and we have at least 1-2 advanced techie people who can answer more complicated questions.
Please join, and tell your friends! Next week I'll post an official welcome and resources..and we'll get started.
If it goes well, I can either start another one and/move to de-Amazon, Meta, Apple, whatever.
(Also, if anyone wants to repost this in r/privacy on Reddit, please do! I apparently don't have enough karma to post there.)
Hmm, the order of those steps is a little weird. I would expect disabling ad tracking and such to be first. I also think it's odd that SMS wasn't mentioned, is this an iPhone guide?
Agreed. Week 2, switching browser and search is a couple steps and seems like a good on-ramp to build momentum. Week 1, switching email and calendar is several steps per step and requires some consideration and even paying into a new service.
I can't remember, but I think I wanted to be sure anti-tracker extensions was after installing a new browser...otherwise you'd double your work. This is not an iPhone guide; later in the course we talk about getting a privacy-forward phone OS.
Sounds like a great idea. It will be publicly indexible if people search it online. They'll see lemmy results instead of reddit. And, you can link comments to your Signal group. I don't see a downside
🤭
Otter
in reply to Alas Poor Erinaceus • • •If you run it on your own hardware then you know exactly how much energy it's using. Some of the models can even run on the average computer, but the quality is not great.
The problem we have right now is where everyone is trying to use generative AI for everything, all the time, even for basic takes such as googling for a fact, simple math that could be done on a calculator, etc. They're also often using the latest and greatest AI models, which are powerful and spend a lot of processing power each time. In order to run the servers to respond to all that, companies use a large amount of power, and then use water to cool the servers. That's the water usage from what I understand.
So if you use a simpler / more efficient model, and only use it for tasks where it's better than conventional tools, you'll be doing much better power usage wise.
Alas Poor Erinaceus
in reply to Otter • • •Thanks! 👍
BTW, are the Chinese way ahead of the US in this like they are with renewables and electric cars? They'll probably figure out a way to have AI use significantly less power before "we" can.
UberKitten
in reply to Alas Poor Erinaceus • • •The real power consumption cost is from the model training. The marginal cost of running a query is small. Unless you use LLMs heavily, you probably use more power in many other ways, like if you forget to put your computer to sleep.
More training means better models, generally. If you want to minimize that, look for smaller models on HuggingFace that are more tightly focused on whatever task you have at hand.
Or, you could just do most of your queries when your local electricity mix has more renewables.