This is super interesting, the way its worded, I honestly expected it to be for research scientist or ambitious projects like EluetherAI. Really appreciate the HN comment and blog post for that perspective!
> For some reason, everyone is reluctant to apply
We just don't want another vendor lock-in. Especially for research projects. Maybe if TPUs were sold in the open market.
Re:EleutherAI One Year Retrospective
by stellaathena on Friday July 09, 2021 @02:06AM
(#27780873)
Turning down hundreds of thousands of dollars of cloud credits because of vendor lock-in is extremely shortsighted for the overwhelming majority of projects.
> extremely shortsighted
I think it is extremely LONG-sighted: an individual research institute might save $100k right now, but the lock-in might force 10x pay in 5 years to continue research. Not to mention it might affect ability of smaller institutes and individual researchers to enter the field, which is also worse for research as whole.
For some reason, everyone is reluctant to apply. I wrote that to dispel some of the hesitation. Wanting to play with TPUs is a fine reason to join.
Some reasons why TRC is awesome: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27728225