Compute Thresholds
thresholdspolicyPath: /knowledge-base/responses/thresholds/
E465Entity ID (EID)
Page Recorddatabase.json — merged from MDX frontmatter + Entity YAML + computed metrics at build time
{
"id": "thresholds",
"numericId": null,
"path": "/knowledge-base/responses/thresholds/",
"filePath": "knowledge-base/responses/thresholds.mdx",
"title": "Compute Thresholds",
"quality": 91,
"readerImportance": 56,
"researchImportance": 27,
"tacticalValue": null,
"contentFormat": "article",
"tractability": null,
"neglectedness": null,
"uncertainty": null,
"causalLevel": null,
"lastUpdated": "2026-03-13",
"dateCreated": "2026-02-15",
"llmSummary": "Comprehensive analysis of compute thresholds (EU: 10^25 FLOP, US: 10^26 FLOP) as regulatory triggers for AI governance, documenting that algorithmic efficiency improvements of ~2x every 8-17 months threaten to make static thresholds obsolete within 3-5 years. Training costs range from \\$7-10M at 10^25 FLOP to \\$70-100M at 10^26 FLOP, with only 5-15 companies globally currently captured. Identifies key evasion strategies (distillation, jurisdictional arbitrage, inference scaling up to 10,000x) and provides quantified forecasts showing absolute thresholds will capture 100-200 models by 2028 versus 14-16 for relative thresholds.",
"description": "Analysis of compute thresholds as regulatory triggers, examining current implementations (EU AI Act at 10^25 FLOP, US EO at 10^26 FLOP), their effectiveness as capability proxies, and core challenges including algorithmic efficiency improvements that may render static thresholds obsolete within 3-5 years.",
"ratings": {
"novelty": 6,
"rigor": 8,
"actionability": 7,
"completeness": 8
},
"category": "responses",
"subcategory": "compute-governance",
"clusters": [
"ai-safety",
"governance"
],
"metrics": {
"wordCount": 3986,
"tableCount": 12,
"diagramCount": 2,
"internalLinks": 16,
"externalLinks": 52,
"footnoteCount": 0,
"bulletRatio": 0.01,
"sectionCount": 28,
"hasOverview": true,
"structuralScore": 15
},
"suggestedQuality": 100,
"updateFrequency": 21,
"evergreen": true,
"wordCount": 3986,
"unconvertedLinks": [
{
"text": "Epoch AI",
"url": "https://epoch.ai/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-train-frontier-ai-models",
"resourceId": "af04d2ff381827f5",
"resourceTitle": "Epoch AI, \"How Much Does It Cost to Train Frontier AI Models?"
},
{
"text": "OpenAI",
"url": "https://openai.com/index/ai-and-efficiency/",
"resourceId": "456dceb78268f206",
"resourceTitle": "OpenAI efficiency research"
},
{
"text": "Fenwick",
"url": "https://www.fenwick.com/insights/publications/interesting-developments-for-regulatory-thresholds-of-ai-compute",
"resourceId": "11744b15b6c17b92",
"resourceTitle": "aligned with US Executive Order 14110"
},
{
"text": "AISI Framework",
"url": "https://www.aisi.gov.uk/frontier-ai-trends-report",
"resourceId": "7042c7f8de04ccb1",
"resourceTitle": "AISI Frontier AI Trends"
},
{
"text": "Epoch AI research",
"url": "https://epoch.ai/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-train-frontier-ai-models",
"resourceId": "af04d2ff381827f5",
"resourceTitle": "Epoch AI, \"How Much Does It Cost to Train Frontier AI Models?"
},
{
"text": "Epoch AI",
"url": "https://epoch.ai/data-insights/openai-compute-spend",
"resourceId": "e5457746f2524afb",
"resourceTitle": "Epoch AI OpenAI compute spend"
},
{
"text": "available estimates",
"url": "https://epoch.ai/trends",
"resourceId": "b029bfc231e620cc",
"resourceTitle": "Epoch AI"
},
{
"text": "Executive Order 14110",
"url": "https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47843",
"resourceId": "7f5cff0680d15cc8",
"resourceTitle": "Congress.gov CRS Report"
},
{
"text": "Mayer Brown analysis",
"url": "https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2024/09/us-department-of-commerce-issues-proposal-to-require-reporting-development-of-advanced-ai-models-and-computer-clusters",
"resourceId": "be28595c77015785",
"resourceTitle": "Bureau of Industry and Security assessed"
},
{
"text": "noted by the Institute for Law & AI",
"url": "https://law-ai.org/the-role-of-compute-thresholds-for-ai-governance/",
"resourceId": "510c42bfa643b8de",
"resourceTitle": "EU AI Act"
},
{
"text": "Epoch AI",
"url": "https://epoch.ai/trends",
"resourceId": "b029bfc231e620cc",
"resourceTitle": "Epoch AI"
},
{
"text": "OpenAI research",
"url": "https://openai.com/index/ai-and-efficiency/",
"resourceId": "456dceb78268f206",
"resourceTitle": "OpenAI efficiency research"
},
{
"text": "Research on inference costs",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/html/2511.23455v1",
"resourceId": "2255e8e1cf26d155",
"resourceTitle": "The Price of Progress: Algorithmic Efficiency and the Falling Cost of AI Inference"
},
{
"text": "GovAI research on training compute thresholds",
"url": "https://www.governance.ai/research-paper/training-compute-thresholds-features-and-functions-in-ai-regulation",
"resourceId": "d76d92e6cd91fb5d",
"resourceTitle": "compute governance"
},
{
"text": "governance researchers",
"url": "https://www.fenwick.com/insights/publications/interesting-developments-for-regulatory-thresholds-of-ai-compute",
"resourceId": "11744b15b6c17b92",
"resourceTitle": "aligned with US Executive Order 14110"
},
{
"text": "GovAI Know-Your-Customer proposal",
"url": "https://www.governance.ai/research-paper/oversight-for-frontier-ai-through-kyc-scheme-for-compute-providers",
"resourceId": "166215ac6c1d1698",
"resourceTitle": "GovAI's research on KYC schemes for compute providers"
},
{
"text": "GovAI research",
"url": "https://www.governance.ai/research-paper/training-compute-thresholds-features-and-functions-in-ai-regulation",
"resourceId": "d76d92e6cd91fb5d",
"resourceTitle": "compute governance"
},
{
"text": "GovAI",
"url": "https://www.governance.ai/",
"resourceId": "f35c467b353f990f",
"resourceTitle": "GovAI"
},
{
"text": "Training Compute Thresholds",
"url": "https://www.governance.ai/research-paper/training-compute-thresholds-features-and-functions-in-ai-regulation",
"resourceId": "d76d92e6cd91fb5d",
"resourceTitle": "compute governance"
},
{
"text": "CSET Georgetown",
"url": "https://cset.georgetown.edu/",
"resourceId": "f0d95954b449240a",
"resourceTitle": "CSET: AI Market Dynamics"
},
{
"text": "Epoch AI",
"url": "https://epoch.ai/",
"resourceId": "c660a684a423d4ac",
"resourceTitle": "Epoch AI"
},
{
"text": "Compute trends",
"url": "https://epoch.ai/trends",
"resourceId": "b029bfc231e620cc",
"resourceTitle": "Epoch AI"
},
{
"text": "UK AI Security Institute",
"url": "https://www.aisi.gov.uk/",
"resourceId": "fdf68a8f30f57dee",
"resourceTitle": "AI Safety Institute"
},
{
"text": "Frontier AI Trends Report",
"url": "https://www.aisi.gov.uk/frontier-ai-trends-report",
"resourceId": "7042c7f8de04ccb1",
"resourceTitle": "AISI Frontier AI Trends"
},
{
"text": "OECD",
"url": "https://oecd.ai/",
"resourceId": "eca111f196cde5eb",
"resourceTitle": "OECD AI Policy Observatory"
}
],
"unconvertedLinkCount": 25,
"convertedLinkCount": 0,
"backlinkCount": 14,
"hallucinationRisk": {
"level": "medium",
"score": 35,
"factors": [
"no-citations",
"high-rigor",
"high-quality"
]
},
"entityType": "policy",
"redundancy": {
"maxSimilarity": 22,
"similarPages": [
{
"id": "responsible-scaling-policies",
"title": "Responsible Scaling Policies",
"path": "/knowledge-base/responses/responsible-scaling-policies/",
"similarity": 22
},
{
"id": "international-summits",
"title": "International AI Safety Summits",
"path": "/knowledge-base/responses/international-summits/",
"similarity": 21
},
{
"id": "monitoring",
"title": "Compute Monitoring",
"path": "/knowledge-base/responses/monitoring/",
"similarity": 21
},
{
"id": "voluntary-commitments",
"title": "Voluntary Industry Commitments",
"path": "/knowledge-base/responses/voluntary-commitments/",
"similarity": 21
},
{
"id": "metr",
"title": "METR",
"path": "/knowledge-base/organizations/metr/",
"similarity": 20
}
]
},
"coverage": {
"passing": 7,
"total": 13,
"targets": {
"tables": 16,
"diagrams": 2,
"internalLinks": 32,
"externalLinks": 20,
"footnotes": 12,
"references": 12
},
"actuals": {
"tables": 12,
"diagrams": 2,
"internalLinks": 16,
"externalLinks": 52,
"footnotes": 0,
"references": 17,
"quotesWithQuotes": 0,
"quotesTotal": 0,
"accuracyChecked": 0,
"accuracyTotal": 0
},
"items": {
"llmSummary": "green",
"schedule": "green",
"entity": "green",
"editHistory": "red",
"overview": "green",
"tables": "amber",
"diagrams": "green",
"internalLinks": "amber",
"externalLinks": "green",
"footnotes": "red",
"references": "green",
"quotes": "red",
"accuracy": "red"
},
"ratingsString": "N:6 R:8 A:7 C:8"
},
"readerRank": 259,
"researchRank": 441,
"recommendedScore": 231.86
}External Links
{
"lesswrong": "https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/compute-governance"
}Backlinks (14)
| id | title | type | relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| hardware-enabled-governance | Hardware-Enabled Governance | policy | — |
| monitoring | Compute Monitoring | policy | — |
| new-york-raise-act | New York RAISE Act | policy | — |
| international-regimes | International Compute Regimes | policy | — |
| ai-compute-scaling-metrics | AI Compute Scaling Metrics | analysis | — |
| planning-for-frontier-lab-scaling | Planning for Frontier Lab Scaling | analysis | — |
| frontier-model-forum | Frontier Model Forum | organization | — |
| pause-ai | Pause AI | organization | — |
| eu-ai-act | EU AI Act | policy | — |
| export-controls | AI Chip Export Controls | policy | — |
| governance-overview | AI Governance & Policy (Overview) | concept | — |
| __index__/knowledge-base/responses | Safety Responses | concept | — |
| responsible-scaling-policies | Responsible Scaling Policies | policy | — |
| us-executive-order | US Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI | policy | — |