A 23 MW data centre is all you need

TL;DR

This paper predicts the peak of machine learning progress in 2032 and argues that a 23 MW data centre can influence global language standards, highlighting technological and societal implications.

Contribution

It provides a novel theoretical analysis predicting the indefinite continuation of machine learning progress and proposes a method to influence language standardization using large data centres.

Findings

Machine learning progress will peak on 20th July 2032 at 3:07 am BST.

A 23 MW data centre can enable widespread adoption of British spelling globally.

Long-term linguistic 'lock in' can be achieved through strategic technological infrastructure.

Abstract

The field of machine learning has achieved striking progress in recent years, witnessing breakthrough results on language modelling, protein folding and nitpickingly fine-grained dog breed classification. Some even succeeded at playing computer games and board games, a feat both of engineering and of setting their employers' expectations. The central contribution of this work is to carefully examine whether this progress, and technology more broadly, can be expected to continue indefinitely. Through a rigorous application of statistical theory and failure to extrapolate beyond the training data, we answer firmly in the negative and provide details: technology will peak at 3:07 am (BST) on 20th July, 2032. We then explore the implications of this finding, discovering that individuals awake at this ungodly hour with access to a sufficiently powerful computer possess an opportunity for myriad forms of long-term linguistic 'lock in'. All we need is a large (>> 1W) data centre to seize this pivotal moment. By setting our analogue alarm clocks, we propose a tractable algorithm to ensure that, for the future of humanity, the British spelling of colour becomes the default spelling across more than 80% of the global word processing software market.