A.I. In Space?

No matter how much we might try to escape it, artificial intelligence in touching our lives. Even if you don’t use the technology, there may be a datacenter near you or a transmission line being constructed to, in part, feed the power-hungry facilities. The huge demand for chips is also causing the cost of many consumer electronics to rise. A reader recently shared a Freakonomics podcast with me that explored a concept I’d never even considered: putting AI data centers in space. The idea gets less crazy the more you think about it. There is an unlimited supply of solar power and the heat generated by the chips can be expelled into space. Part of the podcast is an interview with the senior director of Google’s Project Suncatcher, an ambitious “moonshot”-style study that is attempting to lay the groundwork for placing high-performance computing facilities in space. Google anticipates launching two prototype satellites early next year. Clearly such a concept is years (or decades) away from any sort of functional solution to today’s datacenter woes, but big problems often call for wild ideas and dreamers who can put those ideas in motion. The podcast is available at the link above and is worth a listen.