The Digital Vanity Trap

For some reason, known to no one—since its explanation defies both logic and good taste—the internet is drowning in AI-generated action figures: the ultimate exercise in digital narcissism.

Viral Sensations and Empty Promises

Since the mechanism of how anything goes viral is a mystery—nothing more than virtual poo-sticks—and anyone who tells you otherwise is probably lying while charging you a fortune for that fact, my guess is the trend taps into a level of vanity and sense of self-impotence that is quite alarming.

The FOMO Economy

It’s ironic, really, that a viral trend that started on LinkedIn was shared by so many so-called brand gurus and self-styled visionaries as a vehicle of self-promotion. It’s really nothing more than mass-produced, consumable buzzwords—blister-packed and distributed wholesale. Bullshit in a box.

Now, as they say, there is no such thing as a free lunch. So, while you’re sat there daydreaming of outselling Barbie while burning the company’s time and dollars, you could be forgiven for thinking, “What’s the harm?” Since when has FOMO been a crime?

The High Cost of Vanity

It’s times like this I reach for a good go-to metaphor. It’s with its life coach at the moment, but I’ll just call it an Uber and ask it to pop over. Ah, it’s here—that was quick. The digital world, brilliant, innit?

So, here goes: every time you sit there, pondering, thinking of how to harness the power of social media like a pocket-sized Lex Luthor wrestling with the internet equivalent of alchemy—an algorithm for virality and launching veritable flotillas of poo-sticks—I say this: think of the penguins. So concerning, that gratis mid-day meal. You can’t dine and dash here; you can’t outrun Mother Nature. So think of this as the cheque. And it’s time to pay the bill.

Think of the Penguins

ChatGPT’s energy consumption per query is notably higher than that of traditional search engines. Estimates suggest that each ChatGPT query uses approximately ten times the electricity of a standard Google search. Some analyses indicate that ChatGPT queries may consume up to fifteen times more energy than Google searches.

Additionally, the environmental impact extends beyond electricity usage. The cooling systems for servers supporting AI models like ChatGPT require significant water resources. For instance, generating a single image with ChatGPT can consume between two and five litres of water for server cooling.

So before you jump on the latest viral bandwagon choosing to ‘make me an action figure’—don’t.

That is, unless yours is of a sad, lonely person wearing a gas mask with the last bucket of water in the world, surrounded by the bones of a billion penguins who died of thirst for your vanity.