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.

[ketan@climatejustice.social]

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. The company's energy use rose 1% from 2021 to 2024.

Compare that to:

Google: 71%
Nvidia: 88%
Meta: 96%
Microsoft: 119%

Where are all the multi-gigawatt, tens-of-megatonnes gas-fired data centres being proposed by Netflix? Are governments frantically rushing fast-tracking laws for video streaming?

[gotofritz@hachyderm.io]

@ketan

This is not a meaningful stat. You have no idea what the energy increase of each company is for (it may or may not be related to AI), how many users it services, and Netflix usage has plateued, so measuring increase is meaningless.

This is just propaganda.

[bovaz@misskey.social]

@ketan@climatejustice.social Looking at your data, Google, Microslop and Amazon are all using around 1/10 of the yearly power consumption of Italy.

[cairobraga@gts.cairobraga.com]

@gotofritz @ketan "it may or may not be related to AI"?! be serious.

[alejandro_p@mathstodon.xyz]

@ketan can you explain what happened in the dip 2023 for be Netflix? Looks super weird

[gotofritz@hachyderm.io]

@cairobraga @ketan

Not everything that happens is AI related you know?

[elexia@catcatnya.com]

@ketan they didn't try to one-sidedly erode copyright laws for video streaming to the benefit of corporations. at no point did anyone suggest that the GDPR shouldn't apply to video streaming services and tried to amend the law to allow video streaming services to collect sensible user data and give it to US corporations that try to exploit them or even openly suggest say they will be deciding who gets murdered by the state in the future.

[cairobraga@gts.cairobraga.com]

@gotofritz @ketan literally everything that has come out of those companies for the last 2 years have, indeed, been AI-related. so, again, I plead: be serious.

[gotofritz@hachyderm.io]

@cairobraga @ketan

GCP, YouTube Music just to name the first two which spring to mind... yours is just bias

[cairobraga@gts.cairobraga.com]

@gotofritz @ketan YouTube Music, the streaming service launched 10 years ago which only major changes were swallowing Play Music in 2020 and Google Podcasts in 2023? GCP, which has been running for 17 years and in the last 3 has laser-focused on implementing AI "feature" after AI "feature"? those 2 sprang to mind?

but hey, sure, I'm biased.

have a nice day!

[fandasin@social.linux.pizza]

@Alejandro_P

My guess would be "end of covid".

"In May 2023, the WHO declared an end to the public health emergency of international concern. Here’s what happened along the way."

https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/medical-advances/new-therapies-and-drug-trials/covid-19-pandemic-timeline

@ketan

[gotofritz@hachyderm.io]

@cairobraga @ketan

Again, "laser-focused on implementing AI "feature" after AI "feature" does not cover the entirety of what they do.

The fact remains that using "percentage increase in energy consumption for an arbitrarily chosen period of time" in no way proves or disproves that "AI is just like watching Netflix".

[wallabra@bark.lgbt]

@gotofritz @cairobraga @ketan Actually, you *can* make logical reaches when the correlations and contextualized deduction makes them strongly plausible.

[oblomov@sociale.network]

@ketan (and the GAFAM datacenter energy consumption is actually probably underestimated, IIRC they try as hard as possible to hide their real numbers)

[pibert@bertha.social]

@ketan

Somehow the energy bills are higher

[the5thcolumnist@mstdn.ca]

@ketan

I wonder if that later increase in Netflix energy consumption relates to increased energy costs of 4K video transmission.

[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.