AI Compute 101: The Geopolitics of Giant Models

With Chris Miller, Associate Professor of International History at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

Love it or hate it, AI capabilities continue to advance. As futurists imagine how this technology may one day be used, how it develops and who will be able to access AI tools will also depend on who funds AI projects and what hardware will be needed to get it to work.

Lennart Heim is a researcher at the Center for the Governance of AI and the author of a fantastic AI compute syllabus primer, which I have just spent the past few weeks obsessed with.

Joining as co-host is Chris Miller, author of the FT business book of the year Chip War – The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology.

We discuss:

• How much does it cost to develop an AI system?
• The competition for access to specialized AI chips.
• Whether investing heavily in large AI models is financially viable.
• Chip smuggling versus cocaine smuggling.

This podcast interview is republished from China Talk (Substack).