Per‑task comparisons suggest AI‑assisted writing can consume less electricity than doing the same assignment unaided, once you include laptop time and search. The right question for AI’s footprint is 'compared to what activity would this replace?', not raw server totals.
— This reframes AI–climate arguments from absolute footprints to substitution‑based efficiency, guiding better regulation and institutional choices.
Michael Inzlicht
2025.08.06
100% relevant
The article’s calculation: ~770 Wh for 10 hours of unaided writing/search vs ~245 Wh for 50 prompts plus 2 hours writing, and ~1.9 Wh per ChatGPT prompt (MIT Technology Review).
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