Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen artificial intelligence invade the music creation space. Programs like Suno and Udio can provide serviceable music with just a few text prompts. This, however, is bad for the environment.
Our brains run on about 12 watts of power and consume between 250 and 400 calories to operate. That increases a tiny bit when we engage in any kind of creative process. Now consider the power required by AI.
A typical AI system takes 2.7 BILLION watts just to process what I just said. Now imagine how much it would take for the same system to write a song. We’re talking the resources of massive data centres requiring untold amounts of electricity.
Looking at it another way, a typical prompt consumes 225 million times more energy than it takes your brain to do the same thing. Not so good for the environment, huh?
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