Jim Keller Offers to Design AI Chips for Sam Altman for Less Than $1 Trillion

[btarunr]

In case you missed it, Sam Altman of OpenAI took the Internet by storm late last week with the unveiling of Sora, the generative AI that can congure up photoreal video clips based on prompts, with deadly accuracy. While Altman and his colleagues in the generative AI industry had a ton of fun generating videos based on prompts from the public on X; it became all too clear that the only thing holding back the democratization of generative AI is the volume of AI accelerator chips. Altman wants to solve this by designing his own AI acceleration hardware from the grounds up, for which he initially pitched an otherworldly $7 trillion in investment—something impossible with the financial markets, but one that's possible only by "printing money," or through sovereign wealth fund investments.

Jim Keller needs no introduction—the celebrity VLSI architect has been designing number crunching devices of all shapes and sizes for some of the biggest tech companies out there for decades, including Intel, Apple, and AMD, just to name a few. When as part of his "are you not entertained?" victory lap, Altman suggested that his vision for the future needs an even larger $8 trillion investment, Keller responded that he could design an AI chip for less than $1 trillion. Does Altman really need several trillions of Dollars to build a grounds-up AI chip at the costs and volumes needed to mainstream AI?



Altman's AI accelerator would need to be purpose built for his applications in order to beat the incumbent market leader NVIDIA at cost/performance, have all the necessary IP blocks in place to pull it off, and more importantly, ship at volumes high enough to realize the scale of what Altman wants to do. This would inevitably require some acquisitions, and the biggest of which would need to be a cutting-edge chip foundry company. It may not take trillions of Dollars to design an AI chip, but to have control over its production. This could require acquisition of an existing foundry company capable of the latest upcoming foundry nodes.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[lexluthermiester]

This kind of thing is getting very scary. Needs to be HEAVILY regulated..

 

[Vayra86]

They've lost the plot.

We're going for the most expensive cat video ever. For what exactly. I guess we're pushing for a new height in wasteful practices, to accelerate that climate change. Why wait till 2050? You can destroy it now, saves us a lot of BS.

 

[close]

Some people on TPU were convinced that designing fast AI chips at a fraction of the cost of the GPU way is a solved problem. Tesla did it, Microsoft is doing it. Can we assume Tesla and MS design(ed) their AI chips for $1T+?

 

[Haile Selassie]

Jim Keller shitposts the following:

@jimkxa

I can do it for less than $1T

TPU news article:

Jim Keller Offers to Design AI Chips for Sam Altman for Less Than $1 Trillion​

Slow month?

 

[Chomiq]

Jim Keller shitposts the following:

TPU news article:

Slow month?

 

[Wirko]

How do you even burn a teradollar? The combined salary of all (4 million) computing-related professionals in the US was about 400 billion dollars in 2019. Source, although it gives median salaries, not average. Half of them would have to abandon any work they currently have and get a job at Keller Inc. for five years. Of course they would come from elsewhere too but the number is still, to say the least, impractically high.

 

[Denver]

The title does not reflect the real (stupid) idea being discussed.

 

[kondamin]

This kind of thing is getting very scary. Needs to be HEAVILY regulated..

No they need hit the reality wall, just like the whole internet hype hit the wall in 2000 and that bubble burst.

We are heading starting to drown in an internet filled with so much 'AI' generated bullshit that it's becoming interesting to buy an encyclopedia Britannica again and have access to source verified information.

 

[Denver]

No they need hit the reality wall, just like the whole internet hype hit the wall in 2000 and that bubble burst.

We are heading starting to drown in an internet filled with so much 'AI' generated bullshit that it's becoming interesting to buy an encyclopedia Britannica again and have access to source verified information.

I agree with this wise man. If anyone knows where to buy let me know.

 

[remixedcat]

TBH I think altman is wanting the cash for something more than ai and in doing this admits he did something very bad that's too hot for me to even discuss on this place...

 

[R0H1T]

How do you even burn a teradollar?

Well you can do that reverse (Uno?) subprime thing that crashed the world economy in 2008

 

[DavidC1]

This kind of thing is getting very scary. Needs to be HEAVILY regulated..

Only thing scary about this is the further human rights violations using slave labor of 3rd world countries for "training AI" and people unfairly being fired over short term benefit.

1st world = "Cleaning" only their countries by sending incalculable amounts of garbage and pollution to third world. Slave labor(including child slavery) to reduce "menial labor" on so-called first world countries.

Crazy things like needing multiples of US economic output per year for a fad is what probably got Altman fired in the first place. An average joe could have told you that. Someone with a stellar track record and brilliance such as Keller will be even better at it of course.

They've lost the plot.

We're going for the most expensive cat video ever. For what exactly. I guess we're pushing for a new height in wasteful practices, to accelerate that climate change. Why wait till 2050? You can destroy it now, saves us a lot of BS.

The only "climate change" is happening due to the same crazies that claim we have to radically change our society while at the same time pushing these nonsensical things in the first place. Of course, literal climate manipulation on top of it for icing on the cake. They are claiming gardening increases CO2 by 4-5x now, implying you need to stop.

If you really care about the environment, then you should hope for the people that run this world to not bring WW3.

I agree with this wise man. If anyone knows where to buy let me know.

Internet buddy. Bit of searching. It's there somewhere. Try eBay?

The silver lining is when the crash happens, it will truly be a crash-to-end-all-crashes.

 

[Vayra86]

No they need hit the reality wall, just like the whole internet hype hit the wall in 2000 and that bubble burst.

We are heading starting to drown in an internet filled with so much 'AI' generated bullshit that it's becoming interesting to buy an encyclopedia Britannica again and have access to source verified information.

Fools & Money being parted that is what this is.

The ad-driven internet was drying up and most regular hardware & software is done three times over. Big tech needs a new money pit (for us to throw dollars in, mind).

The only "climate change" is happening due to the same crazies that claim we have to radically change our society while at the same time pushing these nonsensical things in the first place. Of course, literal climate manipulation on top of it for icing on the cake. They are claiming gardening increases CO2 by 4-5x now, implying you need to stop.

I see you don't look out the window much. 'The crazies' and 'they' are not singular entities.

Its all people and humanity, some part wanting to live in ignorance because its bliss, others in denial, yet others trusting in technology as a panacea for all our problems. Yet others actively pointing the finger at another problem to hide their own (whataboutism, you just did it).
The bottom line: we have a problem and we universally dislike the potential fix to it.

Its not hard to see the truth, you just need to be open to it. The only fix is not doing more, but actually doing less. So far we're incapable of doing so, evidently. That's all there is to it. I don't see opposition in societies on that point. Everybody deep down knows this, we just deal with that uncomfortable truth in our own way. Hypocrites, that is what we are, there is no question, you've just underlined it. Your gardening example is yet another soundbite built to make you believe there is no point, so why even bother, or, it can't possibly be true because I don't like that truth, so its not true.

Come on man. This is exactly why we want these alternative realities and cat movies. Escapism so you can live in denial.

 

[pk67]

TBH I think altman is wanting the cash for something more than ai and in doing this admits he did something very bad that's too hot for me to even discuss on this place...

Greedy nVidia next to Altman looks like bunch of charity angels imho

 

[Onasi]

The ad-driven internet was drying up and most regular hardware & software is done three times over. Big tech needs a new money pit (for us to throw dollars in, mind).

I feel like the AI will also fail in getting them what they want. They tried with “muh blockchain will revolutionize everything”. That failed. They tried with “your kettle totally needs Wi-Fi” IOT idea. That failed. Recently-ish there was the whole Metaverse nonsense that also seemingly doesn’t go anywhere. I detect a pattern.

 

[Vayra86]

I feel like the AI will also fail in getting them what they want. They tried with “muh blockchain will revolutionize everything”. That failed. They tried with “your kettle totally needs Wi-Fi” IOT idea. That failed. Recently-ish there was the whole Metaverse nonsense that also seemingly doesn’t go anywhere. I detect a pattern.

Yep, that's exactly the pattern I see. Suddenly there's AI everywhere, it gets overhyped with scare soundbites of the 'skynet is coming'-category, are you taking the blue or the red pill... but you're taking a pill nonetheless right? Musk works to inject us with microchips so you can download Kung Fu skills. Apple is embracing the alternative reality goggle again, and of course they do AI too. Soon you can take a shit and the toilet will tell you at what age you'll die (oh wait they actually have that in Japan right).

And in the real world... none of it actually materialized, but we do have porn AI generators and we can plagiarize any work by letting it write our thesis for us so we can remain stupid idiots driven and led by info streams that think for us.

Yay for progress. When the dust has settled, the conclusions is likely that we've lost another couple decades to actually improve our economies and keep shit sustainable, we didn't get smarter but dumber across the globe (this trend is already happening for quite some time, we're now starting to actually measure it in school results/reviews) because we're looking at screens too much, slowly becoming vegetables not from old age, but from utter laziness. Money... oh yeah. That's gone to a few dozen on-demand services already, so you get everything delivered to your door.

 

[Onasi]

we do have porn AI generators

Probably the one big thing that can salvage the whole mess, not even being ironic. Wouldn’t be the first time the adult industry drives technological adaption. Yes, the old VHS vs Betamax story, lol.

Yay for progress. When the dust has settled, the conclusions is likely that we've lost another couple decades to actually improve our economies and keep shit sustainable, we didn't get smarter but dumber across the globe (this trend is already happening for quite some time, we're now starting to actually measure it in school results/reviews) because we're looking at screens too much, slowly becoming vegetables not from old age, but from utter laziness.

But, listen me out here, what if instead we change exactly nothing about our decadent consumption society, continue bickering and conflicting based on flimsy, stupid ideas and go on with the standard practice of richer societies abusing the hell out of poorer, less developed ones to sustain the unsustainable lifestyle they are used to? I think this sounds vastly more preferable. Nothing can go wrong.
Or, to quote an HBO show: “Why worry about something that won’t happen?”

 

[Vayra86]

But, listen me out here, what if instead we change exactly nothing about our decadent consumption society, continue bickering and conflicting based on flimsy, stupid ideas and go on with the standard practice of richer societies abusing the hell out of poorer, less developed ones to sustain the unsustainable lifestyle they are used to? I think this sounds vastly more preferable. Nothing can go wrong.
Or, to quote an HBO show: “Why worry about something that won’t happen?”

That's what were doing. Goes quite well, until you've suddenly discovered you're also part of that less developed 'class'. Sliding scale. In essence that's that increasing gap between rich and poor people speak of. It actually tells more people every year they've become slaves.

The next step is anarchy. Gosh! hey! Extreme right wing is getting traction... strange!

 

[mechtech]

but

"SoftBank Founder Wants $100 Billion to Compete with NVIDIA's AI"

0.1 trillion vs 8 trillion

why the 80 fold difference?

 

[damric]

How generous

 

[pk67]

but

"SoftBank Founder Wants $100 Billion to Compete with NVIDIA's AI"

0.1 trillion vs 8 trillion

why the 80 fold difference?

Cost of one A10 node fab 60k waffers per month = $ 50 billion more or less ( including 10 HA EUV scanners for less than $ 4 billion)- - rest for other expenses
You can pack more than 400 chips ( equivalent of rtx4090 gpu ) at one waffer. At 60 percent yeld it is still 250 functional chips. So 15 milions chips per month.

So Altman needs something much much bigger i'm sure, like 200-500 milions chips (equivalents of 4090) per month.

 

[Beermotor]

Jim Keller helped design or was lead architect on:

• The DEC Alpha
• The original Athlon
• Hypertransport (if you remember that)
• The AMD64 64-bit extensions to x86 and what became the Athlon64/Opteron (Sledgehammer) architecture.
• Apple A-series Silicon
• The AMD Zen architecture
• Tesla's in-car custom silicon.

Jim is now the CEO Tenstorrent and a founder in Atomic Semi (makes fab equipment) so I can see where he'd be uniquely positioned to make this kind of offer.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Not to worry he still wants 5-7 trillion from suckers oops I mean investors hehe

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

Yep, that's exactly the pattern I see. Suddenly there's AI everywhere, it gets overhyped with scare soundbites of the 'skynet is coming'-category, are you taking the blue or the red pill... but you're taking a pill nonetheless right? Musk works to inject us with microchips so you can download Kung Fu skills. Apple is embracing the alternative reality goggle again, and of course they do AI too. Soon you can take a shit and the toilet will tell you at what age you'll die (oh wait they actually have that in Japan right).

And in the real world... none of it actually materialized, but we do have porn AI generators and we can plagiarize any work by letting it write our thesis for us so we can remain stupid idiots driven and led by info streams that think for us.

Yay for progress. When the dust has settled, the conclusions is likely that we've lost another couple decades to actually improve our economies and keep shit sustainable, we didn't get smarter but dumber across the globe (this trend is already happening for quite some time, we're now starting to actually measure it in school results/reviews) because we're looking at screens too much, slowly becoming vegetables not from old age, but from utter laziness. Money... oh yeah. That's gone to a few dozen on-demand services already, so you get everything delivered to your door.

You can't have a sustainable economy and capitalism or conservative economics. Simply as both capitalism and conservative economics both require continual growth going constantly to a small elite and also an abused and terrified work force. So if we are going to have conservatism or capitalism than we are already doomed to lords and serfs and continual consumption till it all implodes.

We aren't going to change this for three huge reasons. The first is that the wealthy will never agree to it. The second is that there are a lot of western men who will never agree to a slightly lower standard of living to solve the situation as they are snowflakes. The next is that the incels only care bout throwing fits due to a lack of animated tits and that a gay person or minority was a main character and will vote to throw themselves into an incerantor of it. And those three groups of people are the reason all this bullshit keeps happening.

We're not all getting dumber. Screens are a problem though. There's a reason the wealthy do not allow social media, smart phones, and especially limit video games for their kids. All of them are toxic. But there is nothing stopping anyone here from stopping the foot stomping about the price of GPUs or demanding companies destroy themsleves all to make mUh G4m1ng PC!!!!! (dumber than AI which does serve a point) and changing that about their life. Go play an instrument. Go read a book. Go to a concert. Take up a sport. Go painting! If you actual do care about the worsening society the first and biggest thing you can do about this is to stop with the video games and internet posting. And if you aren't willing to do both of those than you obvious don't give a flying fuck about people being stupid idiots, decreasing health, or the crazy start of any economy. Vote dumber people! Fire up Steam!