About this episode

Sachin Katti discusses the challenges and realities of building infrastructure for the AI industry.

Is the AI industry actually overbuilding, or is the physical world moving too slowly to keep up? In this episode of the MAD Podcast, OpenAI's Head of Industrial Compute, Sachin Katti, takes us inside the "belly of the beast" of what may be the largest infrastructure project in human history. We explore the staggering physical reality of the AI boom—from $50 billion supercomputers and liquid-cooled data centers that "turn electrons into tokens," to overhauling the U.S. power grid and exploring nuclear energy. Sachin also pulls back the curtain on OpenAI's Stargate strategy, their move into custom silicon with Project Jalapeno, and the mind-bending reality that AI is now beginning to design the very chips that will power its own future. (00:00) — Cold open: “One of the largest things humanity has ever built” (00:30) — Welcome: Sachin Katti, Head of Industrial Compute at OpenAI (01:44) — Is this the biggest infrastructure buildout in history? (03:41) — Why OpenAI is building a new industrial muscle (04:54) — What an AI data center actually is (05:27) — “Factories turning electrons into tokens” (06:35) — Why AI data centers need liquid cooling everywhere (08:10) —…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Turck

Guest: Sachin Katti

Topics covered

• AI infrastructure
• supercomputers
• data centers
• power grid
• custom silicon
• nuclear energy
• AI chip design

Keywords

• AI
• infrastructure
• supercomputers
• data centers
• liquid cooling
• power generation
• custom silicon
• nuclear energy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OpenAI

Products: Project Jalapeno

Places: U.S.

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