this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026
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“But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human,” Altman said. “It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart. And not only that, it took the very widespread evolution of the 100 billion people that have ever lived and learned not to get eaten by predators and learned how to figure out science and whatever, to produce you.”

So in his view, the fair comparison is, “If you ask ChatGPT a question, how much energy does it take once its model is trained to answer that question versus a human? And probably, AI has already caught up on an energy efficiency basis, measured that way.”

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[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 221 points 2 weeks ago

train a human

This guy has the same level of empathy as Zuck.

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 116 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

Idk maybe we should do something about this man.

[–] kurikai@lemmy.world 34 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 41 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I’ll get this one if you take Thiel

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Silicon valley was a huge source of revenue for America... And when you have one industry, or a bunch of individuals making all the money - it risks authoritarianism capture of democracy.

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 2 weeks ago

That's just capitalism working as intended.

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[–] django@discuss.tchncs.de 102 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

The humans still exist and need food, even if they are replaced by chatbots in the workforce. The comparison is therefore useless, unless you plan to murder the unemployed.

[–] kambusha@sh.itjust.works 41 points 2 weeks ago

A modest proposal

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 34 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

unless you plan to murder the unemployed.

Well, that's precisely what some of the Trump-aligned fascists are suggesting on live television.

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[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 66 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Someone on Bluesky pointed out that, even if you ignore the morality of this argument, AI is trained on human content, so if we're going to start examining the human energy cost, we'll have to factor in the cost of every single human whose work was used by ChatGPT on top of the data center costs.

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[–] finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world 65 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Y'know what uses the most resources, Sammy?

BILLIONAIRES!

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Cantaloupe@lemmy.fedioasis.cc 55 points 2 weeks ago

People fucking hate AI now, surely talking about humanity as if they are a bunch of livestock will turn that sentiment right around.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 52 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I really wish Sam Altman would treat himself with the dignity and efficiency he wants to treat us with.

The ideology of evil eugenicists didn't die with Hitler, and they didn't die with Epstein either.

[–] matlag@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

He will probably claim to work a gazillion hours a week with an unrivaled efficiency, making him one of the most productive humans on Earth. Because these people are not just sociopaths, they're also completely delusional about their intelligence and true worth, out of money worth.

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[–] GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world 51 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Except the energy AI is using should also calculate the amount of time and energy used to create all the plagiarized works in its memory banks to make a better comparison.

[–] pivot_root@lemmy.world 37 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Don't forget the energy needed to produce the humans who:

  • Produced research leading to the creation of LLMs.
  • Figured out how to design the GPUs that AI run on.
  • Extracted the raw materials for the chips.
  • Processed the materials into products.
  • Transported the materials and products.
  • Installed the GPUs in datacenters.
  • Built the datacenters.
  • Operate the civil infrastructure providing power and water to the datacenters.
  • Planned and designed that civil infrastructure.
  • Congregated into a single area to create the town/city where that infrastructure was planned.
  • Birthed that population of people.
  • Etc.

Hint: It's the same cumulative energy that his own stupid argument is hinged on.

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[–] umbraroze@slrpnk.net 48 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Oh good, the Bitcoin argument.

"Sure, Bitcoin wastes a lot of energy, but you know what else wastes energy? The Visa payment network."

Yeah, but Visa handles six quadrispillion transactions per megawatthour, Bitcoin handles two drug purchases. Not the same results, is it?

So yeah, training humans takes a lot of energy. But in the end, you get a coherent, capable and well functioning individual. Spend the same energy on training LLMs and you get a system that'll happily tell you to glue the cheese on pizza or something.

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[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 47 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

If we ate just one techbro the other ones would fall in line pretty quickly

[–] puchaczyk@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

If you eat one techbro, you consume about 300,000 kcal, which is significantly more energy than it takes to ask chatGPT one question. So who is more energy efficient, AI-atheists? /s

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[–] davetortoise@reddthat.com 46 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

These people fundamentally do not think about human life in a normal way.

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[–] _lilith@lemmy.world 41 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

by this logic AI has also used the knowledge of 100 billion people and has the same starting energy debt as a person. with the added bonus that it can't actually create anything new. Even their dumbass arguments can't stand under their own weight

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[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 35 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I can outperform ai while being powered by a bag of cinema popcorn, sit your bitch arse down

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Hey don't get angry at me, it is them immigrants fault I had to dehumanize you

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[–] OctopusNemeses@lemmy.world 35 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Tech bros deal in false equivalencies. In general they rely on the playbook of logical fallacies. The one they rely on most is the presumption that the technology they're trying to sell is correct by default as if it's a fundamental law of the universe. And that the onus is on others to prove them wrong. Rather than them having to prove its correctness.

They often resort to ad hominem by implying their detractors lack intelligence or they're emotional. This again draws on more logical fallacy that because they deal in technology it means they presume to own the position of being purely objective and correct by default. So anyone who says otherwise is disputing science itself.

In other words they never have to prove the veracity of the technology they're trying to sell because they divert the discourse off topic to frivolous arguments about something else.

[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 33 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Isn’t the key thing here the idea that economics, machinery etc are there to serve or support humans? It seems that the rich and the Techbros are of the opposite opinion.

[–] leavemealone@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Where did you get that idea ? Everything is here to generate profits for investors, nothing else

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[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

And humans also built the fucking power plants and pay for the energy they use, asshole.

[–] lithiumground@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oligarchs see human as disposable resources

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[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 29 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Aren't humans and biological creatures in general found to be extremely efficient with energy? Given the computing power in our brains the fact it runs on so little is amazing no?

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[–] tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

There's an easy answer to this problem.

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[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

Humans should not have to compete for resources hogged by tech.

[–] rustydrd@sh.itjust.works 24 points 2 weeks ago

Sam Altman is right. In fact, when you think about it, humans also give off lots of excess energy in the form of body heat, and it is only logical that this energy would be harvested to make AI run more efficiently. AI gives humans so much, it's only fair if they give something back.

/s

[–] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago

Unsurprising the man who needed AI to tell him how to care for his child sees less value in "training" humans vs training and running AI.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago

This man is completely bonkers! Arguing it's OK to feed the machine with limited resources over a human!
Damned those American oligarchs are batshit crazy sociopaths.

[–] loaf@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 weeks ago

He’s right; he’s wasting energy. He just needs to leave earth.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago

Started from "for good of humanity" and now we're at "humans use a lot of energy". Man why does everything have to suck like that.

[–] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I had to rub my temples for like a minute or two after reading this. Fuck. This is a dumb time line.

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[–] nonentity@sh.itjust.works 20 points 2 weeks ago

The percentage of sociopaths involved with creating a society should never be greater than zero.

Corporations are the only ‘persons’ which should be subjected to capital punishment, but billionaires should be euthanised through taxation.

[–] fritobugger2017@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Altman, Thiel, Musk, et al, need to be headed to the gallows.

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[–] Son_of_Macha@lemmy.cafe 18 points 2 weeks ago

Ever notice that Sweaty Sam never makes an actual point

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

We got to start throwing these people in a volcano I tell you. I mean our species survival depends on it.

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[–] m3t00@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

wouldn't let that nerd fix a paper jam. visionary hallucinations. by that logic we should all die so ai might live cheaper. amen

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Won’t anyone think of the poor rich people and their AI?

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[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago

Sam, you little piece of shit, the thing is, most humans are cared for because that's what we strive to, not because we want to replace them for fuck's sake.

I made a joke a while ago about "kid being a necessary evil". This dude really is comparing keeping humanity afloat and burning humanity's resource for a computer. I'm pretty sure even his little AI garbage yesman would "disagree".

[–] ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 weeks ago

Fuck Sam Altman, fucking cunt

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 13 points 2 weeks ago

I really hope that we can have a revolution and get rid of these cunts.

[–] brokenwing@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

How about he replace his role with an llm?

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