If you've recently been on Instagram or LinkedIn, you've probably seen it: slick plastic-style portraits of individuals in fake action figure blister packs. It's the newest internet craze: AI action figures created using ChatGPT's image generator.
These high-shine AI photos are a delightful mix of vintage and technological freshness, which gets people intrigued, particularly professionals seeking to add a splash of whimsy to their pages. However, what drives the surface appeal of this fad is a dangerous situation most people don't realize.
Your AI Toy Figure Poses Harm to the Environment
While most view these viral stars as light entertainment, experts are ringing the alarm about their carbon footprint and sustainability implications. According to The Next Web, Corpora.ai founder Mel Morris sees this trend as "obviously unsustainable."
"GPUs aren't infinite, "Morris said. "They come at a carbon cost, and this kind of casual overuse shows how disconnected we've become from the true costs associated with these tools."
Creating AI-generated images requires massive computing power driven by energy-hungry GPUs. The same goes for Ghibli-generated pictures from ChatGPT.
Studies show that generating images from text prompts consumes at least double the energy compared to generating text alone. And text-based AI already uses 20 to 30 times more energy than a traditional web search.
AI's Growing Carbon Footprint: The Hard Numbers
Energy usage from data centers, including those for training and executing AI models, will double by next year to account for almost 3% of total energy consumption globally, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has reported.
Scarily, nearly half of this power is forecasted to be derived from fossil fuel sources like coal and natural gas.
This makes even novelty or recreational AI apps a contributor to worldwide emissions, particularly when conducted at scale by millions of people globally.
Is Fun Worth the Environmental Trade-Off?
Morris is not anti-AI by any means. However, he emphasizes that innovation has to be sustainable and responsible.
The technologist admits he has faith in AI's potential, but not at all costs. Morris said that if people want to see real progress, people should not feel any dopamine rush after posting an AI-created figurine.
The future of AI is undoubtedly bright, but it needs to be smart, sustainable, and intentional. Next time you're tempted to generate that action figure selfie, maybe ask yourself: Is the carbon footprint really worth the post?
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