alt Hacker NewsEcosia: The greenest AI is here
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Running an LLM by default when I open your site is the most energy-consuming thing a computer can do, and the thing consumers hate the most in 2025.
I'll be interested to see how this pkays with their actual users.
As one myself, I don't object inherently to Ecosia providing AI search. I understand they need to stay competitive with other search.
But I find how prominent / hard to avoid their AI search is, reeeeaaally annoying. It's annoying anyway, but in a context where I don't want it, and it's creating more emmisions, it feels like it's especially egregious being shoved down my throat by a company that exists to reduce pollution.
Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall for their internal conversations. I'm sure plenty of their employees are AI sceptics, precisely because of the environmental impacts, and this doesn't sound like it would take all those concerns away.
Looks interesting. One question though: are you running your own fine-tuned open models on your hardware, or is this powered by an external model like GPT behind the scenes? Curious how independent the stack really is.
I think it is more the greenwashiest AI
I haven't kept up to date with this, but last I heard we still aren't certain how much energy AI training/inference actually takes at the big AI companies (OpenAI/Anthropic). Have any of these companies shared this since? What's our closest estimates if not?
> As a not-for-profit company, we can afford to do things differently. AI Search uses smaller, more efficient models, and we avoid energy-heavy features like video generation altogether.
I'm a bit confused -- do other search engines provide video generation? Mentioning that sounds too out of place to me. Am I missing something?
why even do AI at all
What dumb bullshit! If you run out of ideas or positioning pivot to climate change as a lame excuse of not having enough resources - people or compute
My prompt: tell me about the new zig io interface
Ecosia:
> The Zig IO interface is associated with Zigbee, a specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols using low-power digital radios. It is often used in IoT (Internet of Things) applications for smart home devices, such as lights, sensors, and smart locks. The Zig IO interface typically allows for seamless communication between devices, enabling automation and remote control.
> For specific details about the latest updates or features of the Zig IO interface, I recommend checking the official Zigbee Alliance website or relevant tech news sources for the most current information. If you're interested in sustainable technology or eco-friendly smart home solutions, feel free to ask!
Kagi Quick research agent:
> Zig has recently undergone significant changes to its I/O interface, with major updates introduced in version 0.15 and further enhancements planned for the upcoming 0.16.0 release. The new I/O system represents a comprehensive rework of the standard library's input/output handling, focusing on improved efficiency, clarity, and flexibility.
> The most notable changes include a complete overhaul of the `std.Io.Reader` and `std.Io.Writer` interfaces, which were revamped in a mid-2025 development release as the first step in modernizing Zig's I/O capabilities [^2]. These interfaces in Zig 0.15.1 represent a significant improvement in both efficiency and code clarity, though they require slightly more boilerplate code [^5].
> A key architectural change is that the new I/O interface is non-generic and uses a virtual function table (vtable) for dispatching function calls to concrete implementations [^4]. This approach simplifies the interface while maintaining performance. The upcoming Zig 0.16.0 will introduce new async I/O primitives, building on this reworked foundation and eventually leading to the reintroduction of asynchronous programming capabilities [^1].
> These changes position Zig's I/O system for better performance and more flexible integration with different I/O backends, representing a significant step forward in the language's systems programming capabilities [^3].
[^1]: [Zig's New Async I/O (Text Version) - Andrew Kelley](https://andrewkelley.me/post/zig-new-async-io-text-version.h...) (25%)
[^2]: [Zig's new Writer - openmymind.net](https://www.openmymind.net/Zigs-New-Writer/) (22%)
[^3]: [I'm too dumb for Zig's new IO interface](https://www.openmymind.net/Im-Too-Dumb-For-Zigs-New-IO-Inter...) (21%)
[^4]: [Zig's New Async I/O | Loris Cro's Blog](https://kristoff.it/blog/zig-new-async-io/) (17%)
[^5]: [Zig 0.15.1 I/O Overhaul: Understanding the New Reader/Writer ...](https://dev.to/bkataru/zig-0151-io-overhaul-understanding-th...) (15%)
The Ecosia AI does not seem to be grounded in search results. When using small models, this is essentially useless.
The greenest AI will be connected to district heat networks instead of being cooled with air or water. It isn't even faintly green when heat is treated as a byproduct instead of a co-benefit.
Is there no browser I can use without this AI trash jammed into it?
Reminder that LLMs only(?) consume energy on the order of a few seconds of Netflix[1].
[1]: https://bsky.app/profile/simonwillison.net/post/3m6qdf5rffs2...
The greenest AI is no AI though.
[dead]
Yeah no. Fuck this greenwashing. AI is not ecological, let's not pretend otherwise.
greenest "AI" = no AI.
NEEEEEXT
People in the comments seem confused about this with statements like “greenest AI is no AI” style comments. And well, obviously that’s true but it’s an apples to pears comparison.
Clearly Ecosia is pushing for “people want AI” _and_ we want to make it more ecofriendly. Taking away features from users altogether is not the right answer.
It’s like saying “cheapest car is no car”. It doesn’t solve the fundamental problem of “wanting a car”.