[afnog] African ai infrastructure

[sm+afrinic at elandsys.com]

Hi Randy,
At 02:13 PM 20-06-2026, Randy Bush wrote:
>my first computer took a 250sqm room.  my wristwatch has ghu knows how
>many orders of magnitude more power.
>
>the US shutting off mythos has accelerated effors for smaller scalable
>models.  that is the horse i would ride, if i was a horse rider.
>
>these monsterous datacenters will become dinosaurs, just as i have.

I'll comment from a local perspective.  Some of the phones sold over 
here cost under $200.  They have more computing power compared to the 
computers which were in use many years ago.

The buildings (datacenters) are used for storing data off-site when 
the local regulations for domestic data require that.  It's not 
optimal to spend money on a very large building if the amount of 
storage space which will be used in X years will be relatively 
low.  The storage service is, in practice, outsourced as it's less expensive.

The shutting down of access to the model is somewhat similar to the 
last century regulations on the export of cryptography.  An 
alternative (which you mentioned above) is to look into developing 
smaller "AI" models.  It may be within the reach of a country if the 
country has people locally to do that and the money to fund it.

People generally expect a tangible effect when they hear about 
"AI".  It is common knowledge, locally, that those very large 
buildings is a reminder of past projects which failed to deliver any 
tangible effect.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy