Lyline Lim, Head of Impact and Sustainability at PhotoRoom, suggests that specialist AI models, like PhotoRoom, consume less energy than generic models. PhotoRoom, which is designed for product photography, reportedly consumes 164 times less energy than a generalist image model. Lim also highlights that reducing the environmental impact of AI tools aligns with improving user experience and cost efficiency. As the AI market matures, innovators are expected to take environmental impact more seriously.
Key takeaways:
- AI models consume a lot of energy due to the vast amount of data they are trained on, the complexity of the model, and the volume of requests made by users. The more complex the model and bigger the dataset, the more energy the AI will use during training.
- Companies are incentivized to make AI functionality more sustainable due to cost and user experience considerations. As the demand for GPUs increases, providers may increase their costs, forcing AI companies to use GPUs more efficiently.
- Environmental impact is a significant concern in the AI space. Reducing the environmental impact of AI tools aligns with improving user experience and cost efficiency. Making AI models cost-effective is aligned with reducing environmental impact and providing the best experience for the user.
- Specialist AI models, like PhotoRoom, consume far less energy than generic AI models. PhotoRoom has focused on using technology in ways that are useful and accessible to users, and has also reduced the environmental impact of client workflows.