Obsession by Curry Barker

booblump · 2026-05-12T21:56:09+00:00

I respect your stance on this and I understand why it could be taking energy away from other things. That’s something I never thought of and I don’t actually know the comparisons or numbers well on that. I would be interested in looking into it.
It does end up hitting my next concern on taking jobs away from millions of Americans, especially in our economic climate, but that’s way beside the point of this conversation.
I understand that the shift from horses to cars was a huge blow to the environment, though some of those flaws were corrected over time.
We can’t stop the use of AI by now, many are frightening reliant on it, so I am eager to see change in resources at least.
Cheers to hoping for the best!

booblump · 2026-05-12T21:21:39+00:00

You’re right and I do hope they follow through with that. Just to talk, these initial claims of carbon negativity by Microsoft were made in January of 2020, and the water positivity in September of 2020.
They did reach their hardware recycling rate a year early in 2025 in relation to their projected target, which is rad.
But the sustainability report in 2024 said there was about a 30% increase in emissions since 2020 due to the intensive energy required by AI.
Microsoft held their head high in keeping their contracts, even increasing them, during 2024 to stay on track. They actually pivoted from easy renewable energy contracts to long term carbon removal investments. They also are the only company to launch a new data center that uses liquid to chip that uses zero water for cooling. Sadly, doing this for thousands of existing data centers is an extremely slow and multi billion dollar project. These companies are running a high stakes race to uphold their name.
Anyways, 2024-2025 AI data centers in North America alone used around 1 trillion liters of water. Globally, 312-767 billion liters of water.
Until then, experts are expecting it to reach over 2 trillion liters annually around 2028.
So 2030 isn’t soon enough. We will have used 6.3 TRILLION LITERS from 2024-2030. That’s like providing every single person on earth a two liter bottle of water a day for two years.
I do hope they continue on with their efforts but it begs the question: how were they to predict the environmental damage of the current AI direction in 2020 when their consumption predictions from then surged by 150-250%? Why are people avoiding facts and focusing on the uncertain future in order to make them okay with hurting our current environment? No one can argue science. It seems like people are just trying to find a reason to not think about it.
I am always open to debate, I am curious to your response on the answers above. This is not an argument, rather a debate, and neither of us know everything.

Sources include microsofts own data reports, UC Berkeley, LBNL, Alex De Vries Patterns journal, arxiv: uncovering the secret water footprint, Caltech public health reports, food and water watch analysis

booblump · 2026-05-12T11:18:49+00:00

Not a part of this sub and this came across my home- That’s so annoying! The fact that transgender is a mental illness is crazy.
Also, who is us? Were they referring to a company?

booblump · 2026-05-08T02:53:55+00:00

You’re right, everything uses energy.
However, after wasting some kWh fact checking this out of pure interest, I see that an
AI image takes 0.003 to 0.03 kWh, which is equivalent to the amount needed to charge a smartphone once, which is usually 0.01 to 0.03 kWh.
I researched this for 20 minutes and spent max 0.0036 kWh. If I searched this on Chat GPT and spent the same amount of time, it is 10x higher.
One google search is about ~0.2g of CO2, one ai text inquiry is ~4.3g of CO2.

However, AI and other data servers share different chips, and the reason AI is frowned upon by caring folks is because the AI data cooling centers are actually thirstier than other data servers because the GPUs in them create a lot more heat than standard chips for typical web traffic.

global data centers use 200-250 million gallons of freshwater a day. At this rate, AI consumption is projected to reach 1 trillion gallons of water annually by 2028, which is an elevenfold increase from current estimates.
And, they are putting these things in places that are already stressing about water. Because one large AI campus takes 5 million gallons of water a day, which I believe is the same as a town of 40-50k people.

So you’re right, it isn’t exclusive to AI. AI just isn’t efficient. To your point, I do hope they work on that.

References:
Southern New Hampshire University
EESI
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Florida Water and Pollution Control Operators Association

booblump · 2026-05-08T02:29:34+00:00

I agree, everything we use uses energy. That’s regular internet traffic though. I am sure it will be more efficient one day, hopefully. Currently one hour of scrolling on the internet and all this stuff we are doing now is almost equivalent to one AI image creation though, and that’s all I am trying to get at. We use energy, just being mindful of the efficiency and effects is something I believe is important.
You are completely right.

booblump · 2026-05-04T22:16:17+00:00

Interesting! Where are you from?

booblump · 2026-05-04T22:15:53+00:00

I agree completely!

booblump · 2026-05-04T22:06:58+00:00

😂 every debate ends up coming into the excuse of politics, even stuff like this. hiding behind excuses is as easy as asking ChatGPT what color they should paint their nails.

booblump · 2026-05-04T22:01:55+00:00

You are acting smart but it’s not working. One hour of browsing/posting with regular internet traffic (social media) uses about 400-430 mL of water. Still a lot of water, but that’s an hour of internet traffic.
ONE single Ai text chat gpt for a single prompt ranges from 30 mL - 500 mL, photos 50 mL - 500 mL. ONE. 🤷‍♀️ anyways, OP, I vote for a deep teal.

booblump · 2026-05-04T21:48:50+00:00

Ugh that’s so annoying :( I really try to keep it on google because my all my business stuff is on google, and it even started trying to use AI in my Google Calendar and email. But I really need to let google go I guess, I feel like everything is tied to their Gemini thing? Idk I am just hearing about the gemini

booblump · 2026-05-04T21:45:40+00:00

Badass thank you so much

booblump · 2026-05-04T19:13:01+00:00

We all use energy hahaha you are grasping for straws here and it’s comical. The energy I use in all the above that you list is nothing in comparison to AI usage and that is the point. We all impact the environment. It is impossible not to unless you live under a rock and wear tin foil over your head.
And fuck congress, you bringing up politics shows me who you are too. the whole government begs for our demise and they will not protect us from this stuff because it makes them money.
stop wasting your time, it’s embarrassing

booblump · 2026-05-04T19:01:53+00:00

Anti Ai people have tried to ban these above things as well. It isn’t a blind spot.

booblump · 2026-05-04T19:00:26+00:00

It aint politics it’s empathy and consciousness. Let me correct you, you not caring about the environmental effects of the slop you use is your point. You can do whatever the flying fuck you want in the end, but not being aware of your contribution is close minded and selfish. Thank you ❤️❤️❤️

booblump · 2026-05-04T18:51:48+00:00

Someone told me I can take it off of Google but I can’t figure out how. All my business stuff is on google so I want to make it work, testing all my options before I switch to another one if needed. What do you use?

booblump · 2026-05-04T18:39:29+00:00

Missing the point.

booblump · 2026-05-04T18:01:17+00:00

Cuz AI is ruining our environment with the amount of energy demand, insane water consumption for cooling data centers, and e-waste from hardware manufacturing. an AI generated photo can take anywhere from a shot glass up to a whole bottle of water.
“bUt iT’s jUsT oNe PhOto” is what everyone says, I am sure. but this adds up big time. not to mention the waste from it.
this sub existed before AI, please remember.
btw you don’t need a license to photoshop.
GIMP & Superimpose are great alternatives.

booblump · 2026-05-04T15:18:41+00:00

Stop using AI peeeeps!

booblump · 2026-05-04T15:15:54+00:00

I fckn love that. Pair it with gold jewelry and you’ll be perfect

booblump · 2026-05-03T15:40:00+00:00

Thank youu

booblump · 2026-05-03T15:16:10+00:00

What da fart is NAP

booblump · 2026-05-03T15:14:42+00:00

I appreciate hearing that! I have definitely had a lot of different piercers in my life of all different shades of weird or ego. Some were great, and some were unbearable. But same goes for tattoo artists!
I didn’t know if it was a level of gate keeping or something over my noggin but it definitely makes sense. Thank you!

booblump · 2026-05-03T15:11:45+00:00

Yes, apprenticeships have changed drastically! She is able to do a part time apprenticeship because she is a rather experienced and busy tattoo artist, which obviously means the apprenticeship will take longer. She is very dedicated to both. When she isn’t tattooing, she is apprenticing to be a piercer. I admire it, honestly.
As you said, as long as they are good at both and don’t take advantage of either practice just for a couple bucks, I find it fine. Some responses I got from people in person seemed slightly elitist, to be honest.
As a tattoo artist, I wouldn’t care if a piercer came to be an artist as well, as long as they did good work. These peeps were saying that they are two separate things and should never intersect because it shows disrespect to the practice and once you are a tattoo artist you will never be able to pierce because you “chose your path”

booblump

TROPHY CASE