What would it take for you to give up ChatGPT? Lower electricity bills? Less strain on local water supplies? Fewer AI data centers popping up in communities across the country?

According to one tech CEO, people who complain about AI might not be so eager to give up the technology when faced with that choice.

The question sparked a heated discussion on Reddit's r/technology community, where commenters made one thing abundantly clear: Not everyone is as attached to ChatGPT as AI companies might think.

And some of the strongest responses came from people who actually use AI.

The controversy started with comments from Cyrus Beschloss, CEO of Verb, a company that lets people sell access to their personal data to businesses, including those developing AI.

Speaking at CNBC's Trading the Midterms event, Beschloss questioned the apparent contradiction between using AI tools and opposing the data centers that power them.

"All the people that are saying they're anti-data center, that they're anti-AI in general, they're using it," Beschloss said, according to TechSpot.

He suggested that people might feel differently about shutting down data centers if doing so meant losing access to ChatGPT.

It's a fair question, at least on the surface. ChatGPT and other AI assistants depend on enormous computing infrastructure, and running those systems requires electricity, cooling and physical space.

But that doesn't mean people have to approve of every new data center, particularly when local communities are concerned about the consequences.

And judging by the Reddit response, plenty of people are willing to call that distinction out.

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