this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
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125
Making an image with generative AI uses as much energy as charging your phone (www.technologyreview.com)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Wait so then does playing a game that maxes out my GPU for two hours use enough power to charge 1000 smartphones?

Because that's a lot.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 11 months ago (2 children)

A high(er) end smartphone has a battery capacity of approx. 0.019kWh (5000mAh), a gtx3080 has a max power draw of 320W so running that (at max load) for two hours is 0.64kWh, which is equivalent to fully charging ~34 smartphones.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Thanks for actually doing the math.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

So the headline must be false, since you can generate a lot more than 34 generative AI images on a 3080 in 2 hours. That's if you just include inference though.

I wonder if they are somehow trying to factor in the training costs.