I think it was a carry over from crypto days. Crypto terrible for energy etc etc. AI is also compute heavy so same deal. Regardless of real world use environment arguments are hard to sell because everything in modern life is terrible across the board.

I am pretty sure that the beef industry is far worse than data centers. Dont get me started on plastics.

Stronger arguments can be made “against” ai then energy use.

Everything in modern life is terrible compared to how it could be. There is quite a lot of room for improvement.

But compared to living in extreme poverty in parts of the developing world today or the life of a peasant in the Middle Ages? It’s much better for the vast majority of people.

It would have to get a lot worse to be as bad as subsistence farming or filthy slum life.

I think the most frustrating thing though is that many of our problems are self inflicted. The subsistence farmer and the slum dweller are victims of circumstance or societal forces far outside their control.