science

Matthias Scheutz, Karol Family Applied Technology Professor, compared this inefficiency to everyday AI tools. "These systems are just trying to predict the next word or action in a sequence, but that can be imperfect, and they can come up with inaccurate results or hallucinations. Their energy expense is often disproportionate to the task. For example, when you search on Google, the AI summary at the top of the page consumes up to 100 times more energy than the generation of the website listings."

As AI adoption accelerates across industries, demand for computing power continues to climb. Companies are building increasingly large data centers, some of which require hundreds of megawatts of electricity. That level of consumption can exceed the needs of entire small cities.

Cross-Posted, via Science Community.

Study.

The study, published in PNAS, examined Wisconsin state testing records, archival information about when Wisconsin cities began to fluoridate their water, and data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which has followed a random sample of 10,317 high school seniors from 1957 through 2026. Key findings include:

• There is no evidence supporting a connection between community water fluoridation and children’s IQ.
• There is also no evidence supporting a connection between community water fluoridation and cognitive functioning at various points later in life.
• Findings confirm evidence published in previous research which also used a national sample, but considered school achievement test scores instead of actual IQ scores.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/50233099

Study