[rurban]

Misleading numbers, and wrong calculations. The TPU and CPU cost them almost nothing as they use and build them anyway, and renting them out for this PR stunt just cost them the missed rental time, if customers would really pay that much. Maybe around 20.000. Energy cost? I don't see much additional costs as those machines run all the time, regardless if improving the model or doing something else.

I bet the much higher cost was the PR team, including the film team, press support, TV team, travels, inviting the expert Go players, building the stage, and such. Estimated 100.000.

Not counting the man hours, they were just doing their normal job.

[eeeficus]

The OP talks about how much would’ve cost a third party to replicate the experiments. That’s what I get from it anyway.

[melbourne_mat]

"renting them out for this PR stunt just cost them the missed rental time"

Because renting them out generates no revenue, right?

"Maybe around 20.000"

At least the article used a formula for the calculation. You just picked a number at random.

[rurban]

You need actual customers paying that much, not hypothetical ones. That was my educated guess.

And the title was "His much did it cost" not how much it would cost.

[has2k1]

I think it would be helpful for discourse if you read the article in full.