After avoiding AI/LLLMs like the plague, I've been asking Duck.ai some fairly detailed questions, and have been, admittedly, pretty impressed with the results (after checking its references of course). For an oldster like me, it turns the search process on its head: a regular search turns up x hits, and I try to choose what appear to be the most reputable sites among them to find an answer, and then dig through text to find it; now I'm given the answer right away, and then I just have to check and make sure that it's actually correct.

Anyway, Mrs. Erinaceus keeps reminding me that AI sucks up huge amounts of energy (and water, too, apparently), much of it not from renewable sources. So my question is, is there any "acceptable" AI that has a good reputation for not serving slop and is also easy on the environment? Should I even be using AI at all? Mainly concerned about the environment here, I like to think I've been round long enough to have relatively well-developed bullshit detectors. Obviously want to avoid Big Tech LLMs too, unless there's some way of using them without them getting any benefit from it.