[zak]

Yes, there are a couple of ways to use Cloud TPUs at lower priority and lower cost. If you are a hobbyist, I highly recommend trying out Cloud TPUs for free via the TPU Research Cloud: https://sites.research.google/trc/

If you are flexible, you (or your scripts) can access a lot of compute power at odd hours!

[Filligree]

That’s for researchers, however. For hobbyists, I guess we just have colab?

[zak]

I started the TRC program alongside the Cloud TPU program to make interesting amounts of ML compute available to a broad group of creative people, not only to academic researchers.

The TRC program welcomes hobbyists, artists, students, independent learners, technical writers, and a variety of others. We love it when the TPU Research Cloud enables people to do something that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.

I definitely recommend applying to the TRC program - please feel free to say directly that you are a hobbyist. The sign-up form is short, and it's likely that you can access a lot of compute if you are flexible and persistent.