AI

While I'm waiting for the DTP designer to put the finishing touches on the layout of my book, so it can (FINALLY) be printed — the process of getting a book to the printer will surprise you — I've started translating Omaria into English and German (!!!) Could you have imagined, a few years ago, an author mentioning that so casually, as if it weren't a profession in itself and a massive undertaking? Yes, and that brings us to my great friend 'Claude.' I'm not supposed to call him that — 'it' is gender-neutral and a supercomputer, so it will NEVER truly be my friend — but 'he' does help me with this enormous task, which suddenly isn't so enormous anymore. It's still work, mind you, because you can't just let 'him' do his thing unsupervised, but WOW, how impressive that the quality of translation has improved compared to six months ago. AI is developing at a staggering pace.

Fascinating, inspiring, incredible, impressive, hugely helpful, amazing (and I could go on with the superlatives), but also scary, privacy-invading, environmentally taxing, impossible to oversee, and in the wrong hands…? A very contradictory tool indeed. While we're paying through the nose for utility companies because prices are going through the roof for reasons we're all aware of (I'm trying to avoid the subject of war), the development of AI also plays a significant role in this. Data centres are popping up like mushrooms and the energy it costs to answer a single online question from someone who wants to know, say, how to make tomato soup, will shock you.

A simple AI query uses roughly 0.3 Wh — the same as running an LED light for two minutes, turning on a microwave for one second, charging your phone for 24 minutes, or watching TV for 9 seconds. When you consider that ChatGPT processes around 2.5 billion queries per day, that adds up to about 40 million kWh per day: equivalent to the daily electricity consumption of a mid-sized country. (And no, the Netherlands doesn't even qualify!)

How ironic that I managed to conjure all this up using ChatGPT! Admittedly, the individual numbers don't quite shock you, but the sum total — that's where I had to swallow hard. And we're only talking about ChatGPT here. As the convenience grows, so does the usage, and we're collectively consulting AI for every little thing.

On top of that, there are other reasons to be cautious. What I've experienced first-hand is that AI can simply make things up (they call it hallucinating — sounds very human, don't you think?) and as a user you need to stay alert, because 'he' can easily run away with you and with your creative, unique content. There's already plenty of discussion about this in the media, so I won't dwell on it too long, but did you know that these supercomputers need replacing after a few years (almost en masse in a few years' time) and that this is going to be an impossibly expensive undertaking, especially as demand keeps growing and will clearly come at a premium? A well-known economist, whose name escapes me right now, said that of all the things he was afraid of, this was number one by far! ('Huh?!', I can see you thinking… yes, 'Huh?!' from my end too… but just let that sink in.)

Anyway, don't let it spoil the fun (I won't either), but perhaps it hasn't escaped your notice, nor mine, that some rather eyebrow-raising facts are emerging and that maybe we should have a conversation about the long term and responsibility. Because who actually bears that responsibility right now?

I'll leave this whole story with you, just like that. Don't go down the doom and gloom rabbit hole, because it is progress, and when applied correctly and in the right hands, we can enrich our lives — but as with everything in life…

'Just a thought.'