The Menlo Institute is a non-profit dedicated to bridging the gap between GPU needs and allocations in academia. We believe that access to AI compute must be democratized. Without public access to AI resources, the world’s ability to measure and interpret AI development will be left to the private sector. The Menlo Institute pledges to match leading AI academic and research initiatives with the latest GPU and compute resources, to accelerate public AI development.
About
The Menlo Institute was founded in 2024 to match GPU uses and sources. We believe there exists a fundamental gap in AI academia: a centralized pool of talent, that can utilize compute for the public's benefit, lacks sufficient funding and resources to do so. We partner with leading AI firms to allocate GPUs and accelerators for academic research - free of charge for faculty, students, and labs.
From 2010 to 2021, private AI models went from representing 11% of the industry to a staggering 96%. To hold a share in AI’s future, we must empower leading AI academia with the necessary tools and resources to continue public AI research.
NAIRR: The Federal Initiative
In the National AI Initiative Act of 2021, Congress instructed the NSF and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to establish the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR): an initiative that provides AI researchers and students with leading-edge compute resources, high-quality datasets, infrastructure, and support. Based on a 2021 Stanford white paper co-authored by researcher Fei Fei Li, researchers argued for a NAIRR national research cloud, to subsidize nationally-backed AI research. The paper posited rules dictating resource allocation, data access, and distribution.
Over the last 4 years, NAIRR has funded 340 projects, focused on educational platforms, through a lengthy application and approval process. While NAIRR continues to exist, we believe that our non-governmental approach is better suited for AI research. We believe the legislative process is slower than AI’s rapid development, and the Menlo Institute’s agility better matches the pace needed for effective growth. The Menlo Institute seeks to bridge this specific, capital-intensive gap in compute resources, with the speed and agility of a startup culture in the Silicon Valley.
Contact
For those interested in joining our organization, please email us at hr@menloinstitute.org