this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026
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“But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human,” Altman said. “It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart. And not only that, it took the very widespread evolution of the 100 billion people that have ever lived and learned not to get eaten by predators and learned how to figure out science and whatever, to produce you.”

So in his view, the fair comparison is, “If you ask ChatGPT a question, how much energy does it take once its model is trained to answer that question versus a human? And probably, AI has already caught up on an energy efficiency basis, measured that way.”

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[–] ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 15 points 13 hours ago

Fuck Sam Altman, fucking cunt

[–] SlippiHUD@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago

His argument is his computer is more important than other people, and he's willing to deprive them of resources to death.

[–] vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 10 hours ago

creating the "ai" in the first place also required the evolution of those 100 billion people. So by that argument, he was behind before he even started, and it's impossible to catch up

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 23 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

Aren't humans and biological creatures in general found to be extremely efficient with energy? Given the computing power in our brains the fact it runs on so little is amazing no?

[–] collar@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Doesn't the human brain do what it does on like the same electricity as a lightbulb?

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

What kind of bulb are we talking here?

In Altman’s case it’s a dimbulb.

[–] UltraMagnus@startrek.website 3 points 11 hours ago

Yes, it's disingenuous for him to bring up all the time used for humans to evolve as well. If we're going to go that far, we also ought to include the energy/time used by the engineers who created ChatGPT, and all the energy used by plants/animals in the evolution leading to those engineers. Not to mention all the time/energy/training of all the people who created the training data over the past few centuries.

Frankly, at that point, any human artist is more "efficient" than AI - they're able to master their field in mere decades.

[–] REDACTED@infosec.pub 1 points 14 hours ago

I really don't think he meant it that way. Think of it like this - if I want to generate some images, my GPU will run at 100% for few minutes. If I want to play cyberpunk, my GPU will run at 100% for hours.

[–] kamen@lemmy.world 8 points 17 hours ago

It's like he asked his chatbot to come up with this argument.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 20 points 21 hours ago

Humans should not have to compete for resources hogged by tech.

[–] Alberat@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

a master class in what-about-ism

[–] Cantaloupe@lemmy.fedioasis.cc 44 points 1 day ago

People fucking hate AI now, surely talking about humanity as if they are a bunch of livestock will turn that sentiment right around.

[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

And humans also built the fucking power plants and pay for the energy they use, asshole.

[–] fritobugger2017@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Altman, Thiel, Musk, et al, need to be headed to the gallows.

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

The problem isn't so much their reckless careless behavior, but that they can get so many people to go along and invest.

[–] ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 2 points 13 hours ago

That's because capitalism is a mental illness, these people are all sick and need treatment

[–] _lilith@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago (1 children)

by this logic AI has also used the knowledge of 100 billion people and has the same starting energy debt as a person. with the added bonus that it can't actually create anything new. Even their dumbass arguments can't stand under their own weight

[–] Doubleohdonut@lemmy.ca 2 points 17 hours ago

According to the article, this was his literal next sentence:

And not only that, it took the very widespread evolution of the 100 billion people that have ever lived and learned not to get eaten by predators and learned how to figure out science and whatever, to produce you.

Where's Alannis Morissette when you need her?

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 29 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I can outperform ai while being powered by a bag of cinema popcorn, sit your bitch arse down

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[–] presoak@lazysoci.al 1 points 17 hours ago

More like 40, but I get your point.

[–] davetortoise@reddthat.com 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

These people fundamentally do not think about human life in a normal way.

[–] cmbabul@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

It literally warms my heart to know they are all just as temporary as the rest of us. And how afraid they are of being dust in the wind

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Maybe we could use altman to fuel the ai? As charcoal?

[–] Bazell@lemmy.zip 3 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Not that efficient since most of him is just water.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Well maybe we need to compensate for the inefficiency by including all his CEO and Billionaire buddies.

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 1 points 12 hours ago

Don't forget about the hot air

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 53 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Someone on Bluesky pointed out that, even if you ignore the morality of this argument, AI is trained on human content, so if we're going to start examining the human energy cost, we'll have to factor in the cost of every single human whose work was used by ChatGPT on top of the data center costs.

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[–] lithiumground@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oligarchs see human as disposable resources

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[–] umbraroze@slrpnk.net 48 points 1 day ago (8 children)

Oh good, the Bitcoin argument.

"Sure, Bitcoin wastes a lot of energy, but you know what else wastes energy? The Visa payment network."

Yeah, but Visa handles six quadrispillion transactions per megawatthour, Bitcoin handles two drug purchases. Not the same results, is it?

So yeah, training humans takes a lot of energy. But in the end, you get a coherent, capable and well functioning individual. Spend the same energy on training LLMs and you get a system that'll happily tell you to glue the cheese on pizza or something.

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[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

Started from "for good of humanity" and now we're at "humans use a lot of energy". Man why does everything have to suck like that.

[–] m3t00@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

wouldn't let that nerd fix a paper jam. visionary hallucinations. by that logic we should all die so ai might live cheaper. amen

[–] tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There's an easy answer to this problem.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Do you think we could actually get that much processing power out of Sam Altman if we shoved him in one of those things though?

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[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 185 points 2 days ago (1 children)

train a human

This guy has the same level of empathy as Zuck.

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[–] django@discuss.tchncs.de 83 points 1 day ago (7 children)

The humans still exist and need food, even if they are replaced by chatbots in the workforce. The comparison is therefore useless, unless you plan to murder the unemployed.

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[–] OctopusNemeses@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Tech bros deal in false equivalencies. In general they rely on the playbook of logical fallacies. The one they rely on most is the presumption that the technology they're trying to sell is correct by default as if it's a fundamental law of the universe. And that the onus is on others to prove them wrong. Rather than them having to prove its correctness.

They often resort to ad hominem by implying their detractors lack intelligence or they're emotional. This again draws on more logical fallacy that because they deal in technology it means they presume to own the position of being purely objective and correct by default. So anyone who says otherwise is disputing science itself.

In other words they never have to prove the veracity of the technology they're trying to sell because they divert the discourse off topic to frivolous arguments about something else.

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 100 points 2 days ago (13 children)

Idk maybe we should do something about this man.

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[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 39 points 1 day ago (11 children)

If we ate just one techbro the other ones would fall in line pretty quickly

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Won’t anyone think of the poor rich people and their AI?

[–] Bakkoda@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

I am. The rich people will compost just like everybody else.

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[–] Sundiata@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

he's full of shit. to the little fuck that downvoted me for saying this. suck sam altman's dick you little shit

fuckers like him are ruining and want to kill the middle class without thinking about what happens after everyone and everything is replaced with slop.

there is a difference between using AI for hobbies and using AI as a bullshit excuse to make most of the population homeless with no safeguards in place once they can't pay the bills. add onto the fact that cheeto orangutan president is making it more and more impossible to make out a living in all sectors of life in the western world.

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