. . . and two steps back
If you secretly long for a better-written ClimateDog, it’s available.
Just go to chatGPT.com, find the Ask anything box, and enter a query, such as
“Please rewrite the following, improving its . . .” [clarity, or entertainment value, or persuasiveness, or usefulness - or whatever characteristics of the article you’d like to see improved]
Then simply copy the newsletter text, paste it into the box below your query, and hit Return. Within seconds you will be served a rewritten ClimateDog more to your tastes.
ChatGPT is one of several artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots available online. It can have realistic conversations with users because of its ‘natural language’ capabilities and can compose written content, including articles, social media posts, essays, college essays, and computer code.
Does a chatbot write ClimateDog?
I sometimes use an AI chatbot to help explore topics for ClimateDog. Now that my Research Assistant, Buddy, is gone, I need help with that work, for instance finding specific examples of what I’m writing about.
But, no, I don’t ask for AI assistance in actually writing the words you read. Somehow that doesn’t seem right. Maybe I’ll get over my compunction as our world and its processes become more and more AI driven, but for the moment I’m happy to rely on my editor, Hilary, to help improve these words.
One step forward . . .
Over the centuries, we humans have steadily improved our world. At first it was settlements, agriculture, trade; later came electricity, medicine, electronics. Now suddenly it’s software that can design drugs, automate complex tasks, drive a car, and drive innovation. Specifically for global warming, they’re saying AI can optimize energy use, forecast climate disasters, even invent new energy sources.
It could be a big step forward. But at what cost?
To build and operate their hugely complex software, AI data centers already consume about 2% of U.S. electricity, and AI is expected to double or triple its demand by 2030. At the same time, grid operators are warning that increasing swathes of the country are in danger of blackouts this summer.
We need more sources of electricity, not more uses. The Heritage Foundation - those people who brought us Project2025 - claims that solar and wind sources won’t do it.
To meet the new demand, America will need hundreds of new gas and nuclear plants. Yet investment in such plants has virtually vanished. Indeed, data center developers are increasingly looking to build their own power plants, avoiding the grid altogether. [source: We must move fast to avert a national electricity crisis]
The idea that AI centers should have their own power supply is a good one. It avoids putting a load on the electrical grid, and might even contribute some power to the rest of us. But so far I’ve not come across any use of AI that’s likely to result in near-term energy sources. Meanwhile AI is sucking power from the grid at a previously unimaginable rate.
Whether we see a continuing explosion of solar and wind power or the dozens of new fossil fuel and nuclear plants the Heritage people say is our only hope - or both - it’s not obvious that Americans will have enough power for our possessions, our activities, and our interests over the coming decade.
Time to think again about household solar or, as I’ve said before, community solar! In an upcoming newsletter, I’ll be pointing out communities around the country that are becoming energy self-sufficient.
Want to know Who is paying for all that data center power? Read this Volts article by my fellow Substack author, David Roberts, one of the best sources for news and analysis of the transition away from fossil fuels to clean, carbon-free energy.