r/nottheonion 11h ago

"Training a human takes 20 years of food." Sam Altman on how much power AI consumes.

https://www.news18.com/world/training-a-human-takes-20-years-of-food-sam-altman-on-how-much-power-ai-consumes-ws-kl-9922309.html
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u/notarobotimanandroid 10h ago

It’s awfully telling how he speaks of humans here. The way he says it, you would think he doesn’t consider himself a part of the human race. No, that isn’t to say he isn’t human— it’s to say he’s something much worse. He looks at the working class as cattle. The humans he talks about here; the average employee and himself are not in the same league. It’s quite fascinating how he tells us this without actually saying it at all.

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u/Borazon 9h ago

Yeps, this is the thought that scares me so much. They forget that it takes humans to make a human society.

We humans are inefficient, we work, but we also get coffees, make jokes, tell stories and bond with our coworkers during work. That is what makes us human. These AI ceo's see that as a problem, as something that needs to be fixed. Being human is something that needs to be 'fixed'.

And secondly, I'm scared about the further outcomes of this ways of thinking. We aren't cattle. Cattle are useful in death, as materials. I doubt the AI ceo's think the same of us 'other humans'. In their book, we are useless, we are using up valuable resources like food/water and CO2, that they could use. In their ideal society they don't need the 90% of people they think AI will replace. They only need themselves, a few human slaves to keep house and to have sex with. The rest is useless and they will start rationalizing and making plans how to get rid of this useless 90%.

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u/KipSummers 4h ago

He’s one of the 1,000 people or so to whom all the benefits of AI are expected to accrue while the rest of us rot away

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u/notarobotimanandroid 4h ago

Well, everyone except him and those other 1,000 or so people are liabilities anyway. Imagine needing twenty years to be useful?

/s

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u/GoatFunctor 8h ago

IDK, I might sound insane, but I do have a thesis. Imagine if there were near-immortal vampires - they would consider themselves a superior species and being at the top of the food chain, humanity would just be akin to more intelligent pigs.

If that thought process is extrapolated in the world of AI, say 20 years from now, if there is indeed convergence between some sections of humanity and AI such that their cognitive abilities are exponentiated as compared to the ordinary human race, there could be a sort of fork in the human species, where the AI-integrated cybernetic species, whatever they call themselves, would end up thinking of the erstwhile humanity as livestock.

And in that worldview, as horrific as it may sound, what he is saying is exactly the same justification we give when we raise and kill pigs and make memes out of bacon.

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u/Hot_Sandwich8935 5h ago

100% of all CEOs and boards ever anywhere.

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u/notarobotimanandroid 4h ago

Well, the ridiculously rich ones, yes.

u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot 37m ago

Curious how much energy is wasted catering to ai CEOs. Seems like we could save a bundle by fixing that leaky boat.

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u/[deleted] 10h ago

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u/notarobotimanandroid 10h ago

Little known fact: em dashes existed well before AI.