zlacker

> X.ai is controversial mainly because of Musk.

I would argue that they have earned their own controversy independent of Musk with all the shenanigans they pulled building out their data centers, namely their illegal use of gas turbines to power the whole thing.

>>_fat_s+(OP)
If by illegal you mean a spelled-out loophole that the EPA only decided they didn't like in retrospect. Businesses are run by people that think this is a level of forward-thinking-ness that they aspire to, not something to be avoided. (Source: my own CEO.)

>>_fat_s+(OP)
That's part of the way he runs that business. Other AI data centers aren't necessarily a lot better; or at best just toeing the line of what is allowed rather than sticking their green energy commitments (or silently backing away from those).

I'm actually not that upset about AI data center energy usage. I see this as a short term and costly scaling measure with a minor impact (considering overall wasteful energy practices) that is an obvious target for large and rather obvious cost reductions the second this market gets profitable. The only reason that isn't happening from day 1 is all the red tape currently being put in place to actively slow down the demise of fossil fuel based generation.

Cost reductions here mean switching to a cleaner form of energy for the reason that that can be a lot cheaper than burning expensive gas in an expensive generator. Any large scale user of energy is going to be optimizing their energy opex if it saves them lot of money. If they survive long enough to matter, of course. If you are using energy by the tens/hundreds of gwh per year that is not going to be small amounts.