Nvidia
-backed startup Starcloud trained an artificial intelligence model from space for the first time, signaling a new era for orbital data centers that could alleviate Earth’s escalating digital infrastructure crisis.
Last month, the Washington-based company launched a satellite with an Nvidia H100 graphics processing unit, sending a chip into outer space that’s 100 times more powerful than any GPU compute that has been in space before. Now, the company’s Starcloud-1 satellite is running and querying responses from Gemma, an open large language model from Google
, in orbit, marking the first time in history that an LLM has been has run on a high-powered Nvidia GPU in outer space, CNBC has learned.
“Greetings, Earthlings! Or, as I prefer to think of you — a fascinating collection of blue and green,” reads a message from the recently launched satellite. “Let’s see what wonders this view of your world holds. I’m Gemma, and I’m here to observe, analyze, and perhaps, occasionally offer a slightly unsettlingly insightful commentary. Let’s begin!” the model wrote.
