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Making an image with generative AI uses as much energy as charging your phone
(www.technologyreview.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
No shit that using your PC for any purpose will consume electricity. A modern GPU can generate an image in a couple of seconds. Or I could just play a video game for an hour, and consume a few thousand times more energy
Yeah, I can't imagine it's that different from playing a demanding game. I hear my video card fans spin up harder and sustain that speed for the duration of a play session.
If you generate images for an hour, it might be about the same as playing a game, depending on how fast you prompt.
But you're quite right. For most end users it's entertainment, so this is the proper context.