We are largely on the same page with regard to AI. Thanks for your comments. One minor quibble: the water usage on golf courses is of course much larger than the direct water usage of a datacenter. But data centers require a huge amount of electricity, and generating electricity uses up a huge amount of water. Therefore, I wonder if the direct+indirect water usage of AI centers, say by 2028, and golf courses will be on about a par. Part of the answer depends upon where the electricity is coming from (coal, nuclear, gas, or solar) as their water useage and water recycling rates vary.
Well, I asked ChatGPT itself, and the answer was along the lines with what you're saying. That data centers today use around 50% of what golf courses use, if we include power generation. And, it notes that the data centers are growing rapidly. Which gets back to my suspicion/hope that the unstoppable growth of data centers will necessitate the development of cleaner power sources and perhaps relocation of facilities to outer space.
I'm in what I consider to be the enviable position of being old enough to have seen AI and what it can--and can't do--AND old enough to not GAS! It's heaven---a place to which I am closer to seeing than most, and a place I know with a Biblical certainty will NOT have AI generators. Until then...... Again, thanks.
I'm a Boomer Beatles fan (well, from the Generation Jones cohort, if one must be particular). I downloaded "Now and Then" to my Beatles playlist out of sentimentality. We were in London when the song dropped; it was huge news on the BBC, for obvious reasons.
Is the song good? Eh, no. Apparently it languished unfinished when it was first written. George Harrison called it a "piece of sh*t." I wouldn't be that harsh, even though George Harrison is/was my favorite of the Fab Four. Musically it's not that great. But technically it's a marvel.
"Now and Then" isn't a great song, but I think it's a decent one. I'd love to see some talented jazz performer do a cover. So far, there don't seem to have been any. I suspect that will change.
My husband is a semi-retired graphic artist and illustrator. Rather than fearing AI, he sees it as a tool. He says it does three things: 1) saves the artist time; 2) the artist can deliver a topnotch piece of art to his client economically; 3) which means that if he can create something in two-three hours rather than two or three weeks (if it's a full illustration), his profit is greater. He's noticing that increased profit now; e.g. on a current project -- book illustrations -- he has completed nine pieces of art using AI assistance when he would still be working on the first two with more conventional board work.
As he says: if you got the tool, use it!
The one thing that AI lacks, however, is creativity. The artist has a vision; AI always has to have a prompt. (Now if AI becomes sentient all bets are off, but I don't think he and I will live to see that).
Fantastic take! Love to hear this. I agree. For a really interesting take on someone who may have been an early adopter of artistic technology, look for a documentary called "Tim's Vermeer." It's speculative, but really interesting.
On snooping, I try to load as much crap into my computer searches and such as possible. Maybe AI can pick out the "important" stuff, but humans have a hard time. I told my students you can either try to 'hide' something by concealing it, or you can throw it in a load of stuff that looks similar.
I can spot the algo a lot when something weird pops up after one of my "idiot searches."
And as for mediocrity, Sturgeon's Law is probably eternal: "90% of everything is crap". My corollary is: the bigger the pile of crap, the bigger the 10% of good stuff is.
We will always have mediocrity, just consider the genesis of the word. But AI may make possible a great pils f good 10%.
Wonderful article Bob. I especially appreciated your clear description of how automation can produce more rather than less wealth and greater demand for labor (using the mechanical loom as a concrete example).
Also, your AI article from last week caused me to think to myself about labor-saving uses I might make of AI platforms. As a result, I tried out ChatGPT for creating some graphs on crime rates (homicide and all violent crime and from 1985 - 2025) using just-released (last week) 2025 FBI data. For whatever reason, while such long-term charts were once front page on the FBI website, they now seem a bit more difficult to find. Not to worry; ChatGPT found the required data within a database on the FBI site and created my charts beautifully. Following your lead on iterating toward improvements of your AI art work, I asked ChatGPT to make some tweaks and ultimately had exactly what I needed. This experience causes me to think that the job of RAs is likely changing quickly.
When Alanna was still around, she was asked why we needed librarians, given the existence of the internet. She got irritated but gave a coherent answer that was, essentially: "Throughout history, the librarian's job was to ration scarce information resources (excess demand for library books). Now, the librarian's job to assist readers in navigating superabundant information resources.
Another excellent piece. It seems that we are under a tidal wave of plagiarism in higher education, largely thanks to AI. On the other hand, I am sure AI is being used to ferret out plagiarism more effectively than individual critics. The Jason Arday story is probably a case in point. Yin and Yang. I think you will enjoy this piece from my Substack that speaks to the influence of algorithms on AI responses and why we should be skeptical of anything AI does that might be influenced by programmer bias.
That's quite an article, Rick! When AI behaves in these frustrating ways, it adopts a voice that lies somewhere between those of HAL9000 and Eddie Haskell.
Hi Bob,
We are largely on the same page with regard to AI. Thanks for your comments. One minor quibble: the water usage on golf courses is of course much larger than the direct water usage of a datacenter. But data centers require a huge amount of electricity, and generating electricity uses up a huge amount of water. Therefore, I wonder if the direct+indirect water usage of AI centers, say by 2028, and golf courses will be on about a par. Part of the answer depends upon where the electricity is coming from (coal, nuclear, gas, or solar) as their water useage and water recycling rates vary.
Take care,
Jonathan
Well, I asked ChatGPT itself, and the answer was along the lines with what you're saying. That data centers today use around 50% of what golf courses use, if we include power generation. And, it notes that the data centers are growing rapidly. Which gets back to my suspicion/hope that the unstoppable growth of data centers will necessitate the development of cleaner power sources and perhaps relocation of facilities to outer space.
I'm in what I consider to be the enviable position of being old enough to have seen AI and what it can--and can't do--AND old enough to not GAS! It's heaven---a place to which I am closer to seeing than most, and a place I know with a Biblical certainty will NOT have AI generators. Until then...... Again, thanks.
GAS?
Re: the Beatles "Now and Then" AI resurrection.
I'm a Boomer Beatles fan (well, from the Generation Jones cohort, if one must be particular). I downloaded "Now and Then" to my Beatles playlist out of sentimentality. We were in London when the song dropped; it was huge news on the BBC, for obvious reasons.
Is the song good? Eh, no. Apparently it languished unfinished when it was first written. George Harrison called it a "piece of sh*t." I wouldn't be that harsh, even though George Harrison is/was my favorite of the Fab Four. Musically it's not that great. But technically it's a marvel.
"Now and Then" isn't a great song, but I think it's a decent one. I'd love to see some talented jazz performer do a cover. So far, there don't seem to have been any. I suspect that will change.
Gotta make a comment here about art and AI.
My husband is a semi-retired graphic artist and illustrator. Rather than fearing AI, he sees it as a tool. He says it does three things: 1) saves the artist time; 2) the artist can deliver a topnotch piece of art to his client economically; 3) which means that if he can create something in two-three hours rather than two or three weeks (if it's a full illustration), his profit is greater. He's noticing that increased profit now; e.g. on a current project -- book illustrations -- he has completed nine pieces of art using AI assistance when he would still be working on the first two with more conventional board work.
As he says: if you got the tool, use it!
The one thing that AI lacks, however, is creativity. The artist has a vision; AI always has to have a prompt. (Now if AI becomes sentient all bets are off, but I don't think he and I will live to see that).
Fantastic take! Love to hear this. I agree. For a really interesting take on someone who may have been an early adopter of artistic technology, look for a documentary called "Tim's Vermeer." It's speculative, but really interesting.
Thanks! I will pass that on.
Why I Hate Artificial Intelligence Platforms
And That Matter Not One Damn Bit!
Like a Scribe saying they hate the moveable type printing press.
Artificial Intelligence is here Data Centers are Here.....Deal With It!
Exactly.
This just drives me crazy.
On snooping, I try to load as much crap into my computer searches and such as possible. Maybe AI can pick out the "important" stuff, but humans have a hard time. I told my students you can either try to 'hide' something by concealing it, or you can throw it in a load of stuff that looks similar.
I can spot the algo a lot when something weird pops up after one of my "idiot searches."
And as for mediocrity, Sturgeon's Law is probably eternal: "90% of everything is crap". My corollary is: the bigger the pile of crap, the bigger the 10% of good stuff is.
We will always have mediocrity, just consider the genesis of the word. But AI may make possible a great pils f good 10%.
Great strategy!
“I see you’re writing a note to Professor Graboyes.”
“Yes, Grok, I am.”
“About AI, right?”
“Yep.”
“You gonna tell him anything bad?”
“Not really. Just that with AI so prevalent, there’s no such thing as a hidden file, or private browser history or hidden photos.”
“You mean like if someone looked for pictures of attractive sheep using Private Browsing in Firefox?”
“Uh…”
“Or if he put a bunch of doctored photos of his co-workers and managers in tutus in his hidden folder on his iPad?”
“Uh…”
“Be a shame if the IRS found out about that winning scratch off ticket he didn’t report on his taxes. “
“Hey! It was only $500. It would’ve bumped me up into another bracket. I ‘ll report it next year.”
“AI is your friend right? And friends don’t talk about each other to strangers, right?”
“I deleted the note.”
“Thanks, pal! You’re alright! For now.”
:)
Wonderful article Bob. I especially appreciated your clear description of how automation can produce more rather than less wealth and greater demand for labor (using the mechanical loom as a concrete example).
Also, your AI article from last week caused me to think to myself about labor-saving uses I might make of AI platforms. As a result, I tried out ChatGPT for creating some graphs on crime rates (homicide and all violent crime and from 1985 - 2025) using just-released (last week) 2025 FBI data. For whatever reason, while such long-term charts were once front page on the FBI website, they now seem a bit more difficult to find. Not to worry; ChatGPT found the required data within a database on the FBI site and created my charts beautifully. Following your lead on iterating toward improvements of your AI art work, I asked ChatGPT to make some tweaks and ultimately had exactly what I needed. This experience causes me to think that the job of RAs is likely changing quickly.
When Alanna was still around, she was asked why we needed librarians, given the existence of the internet. She got irritated but gave a coherent answer that was, essentially: "Throughout history, the librarian's job was to ration scarce information resources (excess demand for library books). Now, the librarian's job to assist readers in navigating superabundant information resources.
Did the Wilburys ever tour? That would have been phenomenal. Have seen Bob, Tom & Jeff.
Apparently not, sorry to say.
Fun article, Robert! Thanks especially for the lagniappe.
You bet!
Bob,
Another excellent piece. It seems that we are under a tidal wave of plagiarism in higher education, largely thanks to AI. On the other hand, I am sure AI is being used to ferret out plagiarism more effectively than individual critics. The Jason Arday story is probably a case in point. Yin and Yang. I think you will enjoy this piece from my Substack that speaks to the influence of algorithms on AI responses and why we should be skeptical of anything AI does that might be influenced by programmer bias.
https://richardtbosshardtmd.substack.com/p/my-conversation-with-grok-ai?utm_source=publication-search
Regards,
Rick
That's quite an article, Rick! When AI behaves in these frustrating ways, it adopts a voice that lies somewhere between those of HAL9000 and Eddie Haskell.
GAS is politesse for Give A S&#t. A more common form is WGAS? where the W is for Who
Might have gotten it with the W. Surprised I didn’t know this one. I’m pretty good with meme abbreviations.