At least in the case of AI the _theoretical_ benefits are there, whereas crypto is wasteful _by design_.
Whether the cost/benefit works out in the case of AI is another question.
Whether the cost/benefit works out in the case of AI is another question.
On one hand, the cost of compute per token has gone down a lot, and will continue to go down, because that's exactly the economic incentives at play. We had a little short-term nonsense where "the bigger the better" was all the rage, but inference was never this way, and now training is also pushing in this direction.
But on the other hand, less compute per token means it can be more broadly deployed. And so there is likely more energy use, not less, in the long run.
Economic chaos is one thing, Skynet is another. And then people with the power are stupid and evil. Joy.