redwattlebird

Ok. We’re deviating off the point of LLM profitability here and have driven this conversation off into the weeds. So I’ll make this one last comment, and then I’m done. This debate has been interesting but exhausting.

Final counterpoints:

• $3.5mil is the cost of the connection footed by the energy provider and tax payer, and provides no ROI to investors like NVIDIA, hence no profit to LLM and “AI” in general.
• As far as I can tell, the biggest method of external income for LLM companies are subscriptions and there is simply not enough uptake in subscriptions to get ROI, so they try to force consumers to use it which ends up pushing away your customer base since you’re taking away their power of choice.
• For them to obtain ROI, literally the entire planet needs to use it which isn’t feasible because, as a consumer, you need income to consume and the larger driver of investment into LLMs is to reduce the cost of labour.

LLMs have long since gone beyond the scope of interesting science project to something driven by pure parasitic greed.

And how, pray tell, will doing all of that return a profit?

I’m from Australia, so I can only speak to the Australian climate and industry. I can confidently say that the model shown in Vienna is not feasible in our country. We simply don’t have much use for excess heat and we are highly susceptible to droughts. DCs use a lot of water to cool down and having these all over the country for private enterprise is bonkers. So, that’s instantly a market that isn’t profitable. Furthermore, it’s not feasible to build a pipe and re-route the heat across large distances with minimal heat loss.

However, even when or if they implement this throughout all of Austria, it won’t return a profit (which is what I thought your attachment was here, not the feasibility. We are talking about profitability, right?). This project cost $3.5m Euro and partially funded by tax. It’s not a great example of profitability but a good example of sustainability measures.

Also, reading comprehension assistance: not feasible != Impossible.

These companies have BILLIONS in revenue and millions of customers, and you’re saying very few want to pay…

Yep, I am. Just follow the money. Here’s an example:

https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/microsoft_earnings_q1_26_openai_loss/

not saying this is an easy problem to solve, but you’re making it sound no one wants it and they can never do it.

… That’s all in your head, mate. I never said that nor did I imply it.

What I am implying is that the uptake is so small compared to the investment that it is unlikely to turn a profit.

If OpenAI can build a datacenter that re-uses all it’s heat for example to heat a hospital nearby, that’s another step towards reaching profitability.

😐

I’ve worked in the building industry for over 20 years. This is simply not feasible both from a material standpoint and physics standpoint.

I know it’s an example, but this kind of rhetoric is exactly the kind of wishful thinking that I see in so many people who want LLMs to be a main staple of our everyday lives. Scratch the surface and it’s all just fantasy.

You reckon they’ll embalm him? Chuck him in a glass coffin and charge money to see him, and all that?

It is unlikely to turn a profit because the returns need to be greater than the investment for there to be any profit. The trends show that very few want to pay for this service. I mean, why would you pay for something that’s the equivalent of asking someone online or in person for free or very little cost by comparison?

Furthermore, it’s a corporation that steals from you and doesn’t want to be held accountable for anything. For example, the chat bot suicides and the fact that their business model would fall over if they actually had to pay for the data that they use to train their models.

The whole thing is extremely inefficient and makes us more dumb via atrophy. Why would anyone want to third party their thinking process? It’s like thinking everyone wants mobility scooters.

And far better for their physical and mental health.

Vintage story!

A friend’s 8 year old daughter was asking to play Roblox recently and they reached out to me since it’s in my current area of study and advised them against it due to the lack of responsibility that the corporation takes for their users.

I suggested that they introduce her to Vintage Story on a self hosted server instead. That way, they can control who has access and content.

I’m actually surprised at how many parents let their kids play Roblox unmonitored. I mean, why not let them go to the playground unmonitored instead?

A friend told me a few weeks ago that the fashion trend during his adolescence was to always wear shorts. He never owned a pair of trousers until he left highschool. He hated winter because he was freezing. This comic is him.