{
  "schema_version": "1.2.0",
  "rubric_version": "1.1",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)",
  "record": {
    "id": "O-0208",
    "slug": "epoch-ai",
    "title": "Epoch AI",
    "aliases": [
      "Epoch"
    ],
    "status": "published",
    "last_reviewed": "2026-09-25",
    "review_interval_days": 90,
    "steward": null,
    "provenance": {
      "drafted_by": "ai",
      "reviewed_by": [
        "codex-review"
      ]
    },
    "risk_flags": [],
    "flags": [
      "provider-reported"
    ],
    "kind": "research-org",
    "homepage": "https://epoch.ai/",
    "one_liner": "A research institute studying the trajectory of AI; it runs the Frontier Data Centers Hub, which estimates AI data-centre capacity from satellite imagery and permits.",
    "sources": [
      {
        "source": "S-3613",
        "supports": "data-first research nonprofit investigating the future of AI"
      },
      {
        "source": "S-1411",
        "supports": "Frontier Data Centers Hub: method, coverage at launch, licence"
      },
      {
        "source": "S-3301",
        "supports": "coverage estimate as of September 2026; mostly US sites"
      },
      {
        "source": "S-1409",
        "supports": "FAS satellite-tracking report draws on the hub"
      },
      {
        "source": "S-1410",
        "supports": "Epoch's methods named among ways to locate AI data centres"
      }
    ],
    "type": "organization",
    "url": "https://trustbutveri.fyi/organizations/epoch-ai/",
    "source_file": "content/organizations/epoch-ai.md",
    "flags_all": [
      "provider-reported"
    ],
    "body_markdown": "Epoch AI describes itself as a data-first research nonprofit investigating the future of AI [[S-3613]]. Its public dataset of large AI data centres is an example of [[M-0020|remote detection of data centres]]:\n\n- Epoch's Frontier Data Centers Hub identifies chillers and cooling towers in satellite images and corroborates them with permits and public disclosures to infer each facility's power capacity [[S-1411]]. It then estimates the compute installed, in H100-equivalents [[S-1411]].\n- At its launch in November 2025 the hub tracked 13 large US data centres [[S-1411]]. Epoch estimated that they held about 2.5 million, or about 15%, of the roughly 15 million H100-equivalents delivered to customers worldwide in the preceding several years [[S-1411]]. The data are released under a Creative Commons Attribution licence [[S-1411]].\n- By September 2026 the database still mostly covered US sites, and Epoch estimated its coverage of global deployed AI computing capacity at 44% (90% CI 24–81%) [[S-3301]].\n- A Federation of American Scientists report on tracking AI data centres with satellite imagery draws on the hub, to which its author contributed [[S-1409]]. An AI 2040 supplement on covert AI projects names Epoch's methods among those that intelligence services could use to locate AI data centres that are not specifically concealed [[S-1410]].",
    "body_text": "Epoch AI describes itself as a data-first research nonprofit investigating the future of AI [S-3613]. Its public dataset of large AI data centres is an example of remote detection of data centres: - Epoch's Frontier Data Centers Hub identifies chillers and cooling towers in satellite images and corroborates them with permits and public disclosures to infer each facility's power capacity [S-1411]. It then estimates the compute installed, in H100-equivalents [S-1411]. - At its launch in November 2025 the hub tracked 13 large US data centres [S-1411]. Epoch estimated that they held about 2.5 million, or about 15%, of the roughly 15 million H100-equivalents delivered to customers worldwide in the preceding several years [S-1411]. The data are released under a Creative Commons Attribution licence [S-1411]. - By September 2026 the database still mostly covered US sites, and Epoch estimated its coverage of global deployed AI computing capacity at 44% (90% CI 24–81%) [S-3301]. - A Federation of American Scientists report on tracking AI data centres with satellite imagery draws on the hub, to which its author contributed [S-1409]. An AI 2040 supplement on covert AI projects names Epoch's methods among those that intelligence services could use to locate AI data centres that are not specifically concealed [S-1410].",
    "referenced_by": [
      {
        "id": "M-0020",
        "title": "Remote detection of data centres",
        "url": "https://trustbutveri.fyi/mechanisms/remote-detection-of-data-centres/"
      },
      {
        "id": "S-3613",
        "title": "About Epoch AI",
        "url": "https://trustbutveri.fyi/sources/epoch-ai-about/"
      },
      {
        "id": "S-3301",
        "title": "AI Data Centers Documentation – Methodology",
        "url": "https://trustbutveri.fyi/sources/epoch-data-centers-methodology/"
      },
      {
        "id": "S-1411",
        "title": "Introducing the Frontier Data Centers Hub",
        "url": "https://trustbutveri.fyi/sources/epoch-frontier-data-centers-hub/"
      }
    ]
  }
}