For some reason "AI is just like watching Netflix" is back in my feeds so I took that as a sign to update my data tracking for Netflix.

[jeffgrigg@mastodon.social]

@the5thColumnist @ketan

Netflix is a service that people actually want.

Bosses don't have to threaten you with termination to make you watch more movies on Netflix.

Consumers are quite willing to pay real money for the Netflix service. And additional money for 4K video.

[thomasmey@social.tchncs.de]

@ketan any idea why Nvidia has such a much increased energy consumption? Do they offer any ai tools themselves?

[tzafrir@tooot.im]

@Alejandro_P @ketan
Also, Netflix was under pressure to cut its power consumption, and it did that. See
https://greenly.earth/en-us/leaf-media/data-stories/the-carbon-cost-of-streaming

It's an interesting read. part of what Netflix did is obvious green washing. But it did reduce power consumption as well. Also note that showing only 2021-2024 is a bit cherry-picking in Netflix's favour.

At the time there was huge pressure to reduce power consumption. This pressure has greatly reduced.

[tartley@fosstodon.org]

@gotofritz @cairobraga @ketan gotofritz have you worked in industries related to data centers, or energy transmission and distribution? These are being stretched beyond their limits and built out by the biggest wave of speculative investment in human history, purely to serve the needs of "AI" projects. Skepticism is healthy but your counter assertion requires a substantially higher bar of evidence because it flies in the face of commonly understood reality.

[hydroxyl@freeradical.zone]

@thomasmey @ketan nvidia is the company making all the infrastructure for AI happen. they actually are self-subsidizing their products to the rest of the tech-corps to stay in the market as the defacto monopoly. example of video discussion on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0TpWitfxPk. example of article discussion on this: https://archive.is/CbMRu

[jeffgrigg@mastodon.social]

@the5thColumnist @ketan

Nobody's trying to stuff Netflix into all other products and services.

(But, honestly, they've tried refrigerators and bathroom showers and mirrors. But those have not worked out all that well, and have just not "taken off.")

.

Nobody's selling Netflix to the military, to plan strikes against various targets, including hospitals and girl's schools.

[somegadgetguy@techhub.social]

@ketan It's an even better look for Netflix, as over this period of time they added almost 100 million more subscribers.
If we saw a 50% increase in current AI use, the energy demand would be a lot bigger than netflix adding that many new viewers.

[su_liam@mas.to]

@hydroxyl They’ve definitely chosen their hill to die on. Don’t stop your enemy when he chooses to do something stupid. And make no mistake, these fuckers are your enemy.

[gkrnours@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@ketan also that's misleading because it's relative to 2021 usage, not raw usage. Netflix energy usage stayed stable while starting at a fraction of everyone else

[hydroxyl@freeradical.zone]

@su_liam tbh i'd prefer to stop this acceleration of environmental destruction, but i get your vibe

[minimoysmagician@tech.lgbt]

@ketan Hey, which sources do you use for this? Would like to present this to other people