NVIDIA Delivers DGX-1 "Supercomputer in a Box" to OpenAI

OpenAI, a non-profit research company devoted to advancing artificial intelligence, has become one of the proud owners of a DGX-1, NVIDIA's so-called "supercomputer in a box," a server specifically designed for machine learning work. The system, which was hand-delivered to the company's headquarters in San Francisco by NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, will be used to run some of OpenAI's most computationally challenging applications. More generally, the DGX-1 will be used to support the company's mission, namely to "advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return." The non-profit is being backed by Silicon Valley icons like Elon Musk and Peter Theil, and managed to attract more than a 1 billion worth of funding at the time it was founded in December 2015. The company only expects to spend a tiny fraction of that amount over the next few years.