www.lesswrong.com/posts/F2voF4pr3BfejJawL/safety-isn-t-safety-without-a-social-m...
1 correction found
Altman's rush to build a $7TN compute cluster
Reporting in early 2024 described Altman’s initiative as a plan to expand semiconductor manufacturing and AI power capacity, not to build a single '$7TN compute cluster.' The reported cost was also a range of $5–$7 trillion, not a fixed $7 trillion.
Full reasoning
Contemporaneous reporting does not describe Sam Altman as trying to build a "$7TN compute cluster."
- A Reuters report summarizing the Wall Street Journal's scoop said Altman was seeking funding for "a tech initiative to boost the world's chip-building capacity and expand its ability to power AI" and that it "could require raising as much as $5 trillion to $7 trillion."
- Bloomberg separately reported that Altman aimed to use the funds to set up "a network of factories to manufacture semiconductors" and to raise money for chip fabrication plants (fabs).
So the phrase in the post is inaccurate in two concrete ways:
- Project type: the reported initiative was about chip foundries / semiconductor manufacturing capacity (and related AI-power infrastructure), not a compute cluster.
- Dollar figure: the reporting gave a range of $5T–$7T, not a definite $7TN project cost.
Readers could come away with the mistaken impression that Altman was publicly building or proposing a single $7 trillion compute cluster, which is not what the cited reporting said.
2 sources
- OpenAI's Altman in talks to raise funds for chips, AI initiative: WSJ
Reuters reported that Altman was raising funds for 'a tech initiative to boost the world's chip-building capacity and expand its ability to power AI' and that 'the project could require raising as much as $5 trillion to $7 trillion.'
- Altman Seeks to Raise Billions for Network of AI Chip Factories
Bloomberg reported that Altman 'aims to use the funds to set up a network of factories to manufacture semiconductors' and was seeking money for 'chip fabrication plants, or fabs.'