For this post, I wanted to show clips from the presentation that covered the points I chose, but my screen recorder failed to capture the sound. In all honesty, the presentation did not raise anything new that I had not already heard at UVic, except for some details that were mentioned in passing. The two points I wanted to cover were:

  1. The use of AI servers to heat buildings; and
  2. The resources that were provided at the end of the presentation.

AI Servers Heating Buildings

This is an interesting and seemingly intuitive way to use the heat that is produced by AI data centres. It turns the problem of excess heat into a money-making resource. This is an improvement on other solutions, such as building data centres under the sea in order to cool them. Such a use of the heat means that fewer resources are required overall. Because buildings are receiving their heat from this source, they do not have to waste the energy that they would have used if they employed a traditional method of heating. I was quite surprised at how much of America’s electrical power is from gas and coal. I was not surprised that electricity prices had risen near data centres, although I would not have guessed that it was 267% higher than five years ago.

I think that this technology is a great way to turn a problem into a boon. I do not see many problems with it except that, for heating, it would only be useful for those buildings that were close and that it would not be as useful when the data centres were located in a hot climate. Perhaps another way of using the heat as an energy source is possible in this situation.

Resources

https://focusedresources.ca/education#ai-lessons

The first link that Cari Wilson shared was to the Focused Education Resources page, which has resources, including slideshows and other tools. A quick look at the resource did not turn up anything that immediately struck me as the thing for which I had been yearning. There was no damascene moment, but I remain optimistic that, in time or with a deeper dive, I shall be able to find something useful. The problem for me is that I am looking for material that supports the things I want to teach, and I do not see anything that does that.

https://focusedresources.sharepoint.com/:p:/s/ExternalSharing/IQDqdOvcybVNTbm9F5dYAZRXAZklj92zpc9JqrgGi7WyE-E?rtime=W0DFLSlr3kg

This is a slideshow for teaching about the impact of AI on the environment and on one’s health. The slides early in the presentation are good because they are not too text heavy. It rather lets itself down at the end in this regard. If I were to teach this as a lesson, I would want to rework all the slides in Google Slides or PowerPoint in order to make them more engaging.