> This seems like a terrible idea, there is no reason for public involvement here, also there is no stated or allocated budget.

While I dunno where I come down yet on this legislation, it seems truly bizarre to object to the CalCompute cluster. IMO, the biggest AI threat we face is from big tech being the only ones capable of creating new models. Right now, companies like Meta are aligned with open source AI, but that could change at the drop of the hat. It makes sense to preserve state capacity to level the playing field against attempts at monopoly or other forms of overreach. Also, a lot of great work is coming out of UC system labs, so why shouldn’t we invest more in making them successful?