The news: Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Build on Trainium program is offering $110 million in funding, cloud resources, and compute power to attract AI researchers. It’s the latest move from a Big Tech company looking to consolidate talent around its AI pivot.
But AWS’ control over grant allocation raises concerns and sparks a debate on whether this support primarily advances science or AWS’ own strategic interests.
Why it’s worth watching: AWS’ initiative promises to alleviate a pressing issue in AI research—the lack of affordable compute resources.