Hey hi,
So I am not used to give my take on product lead here, I’m but a random Discourse humble contributor and user. But I just realized Discourse took the AI turn quite swiftly and it makes me wonder.
Generative AI is not ecologically sustainable (sources), and I would love that my favorite forum software be part of green computing.
I know I cannot put an halt to “progress”, and demanding that Discourse give up on everything AI related seems impossible and maybe even unfair and undesirable. So my concrete and sensible suggestion would be the following:
Label each AI-using feature as so, on Meta but also in the product admin interface;
Make each AI-using feature easy to deactivate (gathered under the same menu for example);
And/or, release an AI-free version of Discourse.
I am unaware if there are already discussions on this subject and what is the team’s stance on this, so feel free to point out to any valuable resources. I am also aware it’s a consequent request and I am convinced everyone is already doing their best to make Discourse better. Thanks for reading and I hope I haven’t upset anybody with this.
Well I support your right to share that opinion because there are clearly some downsides to AI. (As well as many upsides). And the dust has yet to settle.
And we don’t want AI to replace human conversation.
Of course, artificial intelligence features are those of a plugin that you can choose to install or not. If you are the administrator of your own forum, but I think, I may be wrong, but I think our interlocutor was also thinking about Meta and the possibility of disabling artificial intelligence features here on Meta as a member, since he is sensitive to the issue of energy resources, in particular?
Nope, I was indeed speaking from a product management standpoint. It is much more interesting for me as a contributor to influence the creation a product suited to the stakes than, as a user, to ask for a way for me to feel that I am doing good while the rest of the world crumbles. Even though I pee in the shower too.
Edit: although a feature to disable AI per-user is a good idea too!
I also pee in the shower , and I think my example can have an influence on the world because it is an example and is intended to be followed and to save water, but I still strongly doubt that I can have an influence on the progress of artificial intelligence in the world, while praising those who are convinced of it.
On this subject, and without wanting to stray too far from the heart of the discussion, I strongly dispute the argument that seems to be accepted by everyone, that artificial intelligence is a huge consumer of water and electricity. In my opinion, this ignores what artificial intelligence replaces, namely a much more intensive and unrestrained (inefficient) use of natural intelligence. Indeed, when you make a request to artificial intelligence, it certainly consumes resources, but you have to ask yourself, if you hadn’t made that request, what would you have had to do instead, such as a manual search on Google, for example? To obtain the same result, it is by no means certain that artificial intelligence in this case consumes more to obtain the same result as human intelligence, which is not very efficient in this area and rather ineffective.
Hello, I think that people who are environmentally conscious and concerned about the overconsumption of certain natural resources are not worried that people are not paying their bills. On the contrary, they are worried that people are paying their bills for services that they consider harmful to the environment.
I think generally the trade-off of what the AI outputs vs environmental impact is likely in the minds of certain people, while others might not care at all. It’s hard to make people care until it affects them personally
I’m assuming the cost of electricity includes appropriate levies to encourage and support Green Energy where practical which is a matter for the elected government and its regulators.
Long term AI will trend to the cost of the electricity it consumes.
The price messaging takes care of everything then.
Are you proposing that AI companies should pay more for their electricity?
Personally, I don’t see any problem with the electricity or water consumption of artificial intelligence systems. As I have already explained, I am convinced that, on the contrary, they save energy. I was putting myself in the shoes of our interlocutor, who had reservations about this consumption for ecological reasons. I wasn’t putting forward my personal point of view, but trying to explain that of our interlocutor.
Hail @pHneutre well-met fellow GameB aficionado.(Schmachtenberger) You have no idea how happy your post made me. So many are swan-diving heedlessly into the AI pool. Nice to hear some cautious, thoughtful, inquiry. While I’m unwilling to disclose my shower habits, I DO make the occasional Perplexity query so I am balancing my usual early adopter enthusiasms with the (succinctly articulated) real risks we all face from AI. Good to hear from you all that so-far, Discourse AI is confined to a plugin. I’m building community for humans so I’m glad I won’t have to face that headwind within the platform unless I choose to.
, and I think my example can have an influence on the world because it is an example and is intended to be followed and to save water, but I still strongly doubt that I can have an influence on the progress of artificial intelligence in the world, while praising those who are convinced of it.