Anyone who’s taken basic science or health classes has seen posters of the human body. Your classroom walls probably displayed an image showing key parts of our anatomy, such as the “nose,” the “lungs,” the “alophagm,” the “bronhi” … wait, what?
A poster shared in the r/mildlyinteresting subreddit had a staggering amount of misspellings and inaccuracies. A Reddit user posted a photo, explaining, “My younger brother’s science class has an AI-generated image on the wall” of the human respiratory system.
Photo Credit: Reddit
But there’s a problem with the image — actually, several problems. Many of the labels on the image are misspelled or downright wrong. The poster is littered with labels such as “brophom,” “nache,” and “diaphagm,” among many, many others.
While undeniably funny, the poster also puts a spotlight on artificial intelligence and some of the problems it can cause. As AI use skyrockets globally, such inaccuracies are inevitable. Unfortunately, so are the environmental issues AI can cause.
AI uses massive amounts of computing power, which requires massive amounts of electricity. A report from the Yale School of the Environment says data centers are projected to use 1,000 terawatts of global electricity by 2026. That’s roughly the same amount of total power used by all of Japan.
And all of that electricity results in massive amounts of water use. The same report estimates that one question-and-answer session with an AI chatbot results in the consumption of roughly a half-liter of fresh water.
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These energy concerns have prompted some encouraging innovations. Lenovo has introduced a “liquid cooling breakthrough” that it claims could reduce data-center energy consumption by up to 40%. And university scientists in Minnesota said they created hardware that can reduce AI energy consumption by a factor of roughly 1,000.
On this Reddit post, however, environmental concerns didn’t seem to be front of mind. Many commenters shared the word they found funniest on the poster, while some pointed out other errors.
“You’re telling me my nose isn’t below my stomach and my trachea isn’t on the back of my head?” one commenter asked.
Others pointed out that students deserve accurate information, and that the poster should be reported to school administration.
“A teacher printed and laminated that,” one user wrote. “Human stupidity is even worse than AI.”
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