The IRS Is Buying an AI Supercomputer From Nvidia (theintercept.com) 150
According to The Intercept, the IRS is set to purchase an Nvidia SuperPod AI supercomputer to enhance its machine learning capabilities for tasks like fraud detection and taxpayer behavior analysis. From the report: With Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency installing itself at the IRS amid a broader push to replace federal bureaucracy with machine-learning software, the tax agency's computing center in Martinsburg, West Virginia, will soon be home to a state-of-the-art Nvidia SuperPod AI computing cluster. According to the previously unreported February 5 acquisition document, the setup will combine 31 separate Nvidia servers, each containing eight of the company's flagship Blackwell processors designed to train and operate artificial intelligence models that power tools like ChatGPT. The hardware has not yet been purchased and installed, nor is a price listed, but SuperPod systems reportedly start at $7 million. The setup described in the contract materials notes that it will include a substantial memory upgrade from Nvidia.
Though small compared to the massive AI-training data centers deployed by companies like OpenAI and Meta, the SuperPod is still a powerful and expensive setup using the most advanced technology offered by Nvidia, whose chips have facilitated the global machine-learning spree. While the hardware can be used in many ways, it's marketed as a turnkey means of creating and querying an AI model. Last year, the MITRE Corporation, a federally funded military R&D lab, acquired a $20 million SuperPod setup to train bespoke AI models for use by government agencies, touting the purchase as a "massive increase in computing power" for the United States.
How exactly the IRS will use its SuperPod is unclear. An agency spokesperson said the IRS had no information to share on the supercomputer purchase, including which presidential administration ordered it. A 2024 report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration identified 68 different AI-related projects underway at the IRS; the Nvidia cluster is not named among them, though many were redacted. But some clues can be gleaned from the purchase materials. "The IRS requires a robust and scalable infrastructure that can handle complex machine learning (ML) workloads," the document explains. "The Nvidia Super Pod is a critical component of this infrastructure, providing the necessary compute power, storage, and networking capabilities to support the development and deployment of large-scale ML models."
The document notes that the SuperPod will be run by the IRS Research, Applied Analytics, and Statistics division, or RAAS, which leads a variety of data-centric initiatives at the agency. While no specific uses are cited, it states that this division's Compliance Data Warehouse project, which is behind this SuperPod purchase, has previously used machine learning for automated fraud detection, identity theft prevention, and generally gaining a "deeper understanding of the mechanisms that drive taxpayer behavior."
Though small compared to the massive AI-training data centers deployed by companies like OpenAI and Meta, the SuperPod is still a powerful and expensive setup using the most advanced technology offered by Nvidia, whose chips have facilitated the global machine-learning spree. While the hardware can be used in many ways, it's marketed as a turnkey means of creating and querying an AI model. Last year, the MITRE Corporation, a federally funded military R&D lab, acquired a $20 million SuperPod setup to train bespoke AI models for use by government agencies, touting the purchase as a "massive increase in computing power" for the United States.
How exactly the IRS will use its SuperPod is unclear. An agency spokesperson said the IRS had no information to share on the supercomputer purchase, including which presidential administration ordered it. A 2024 report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration identified 68 different AI-related projects underway at the IRS; the Nvidia cluster is not named among them, though many were redacted. But some clues can be gleaned from the purchase materials. "The IRS requires a robust and scalable infrastructure that can handle complex machine learning (ML) workloads," the document explains. "The Nvidia Super Pod is a critical component of this infrastructure, providing the necessary compute power, storage, and networking capabilities to support the development and deployment of large-scale ML models."
The document notes that the SuperPod will be run by the IRS Research, Applied Analytics, and Statistics division, or RAAS, which leads a variety of data-centric initiatives at the agency. While no specific uses are cited, it states that this division's Compliance Data Warehouse project, which is behind this SuperPod purchase, has previously used machine learning for automated fraud detection, identity theft prevention, and generally gaining a "deeper understanding of the mechanisms that drive taxpayer behavior."
Mump (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Mump (Score:5, Insightful)
It's only contradictory if you think Trump cares about worker or jobs, rather than American businesses.
Re:Mump (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Mump (Score:4, Informative)
Indeed it does. The great again that he's thinking of is the gilded age of the early 1900s. Truly a golden age got rich white people owning large businesses. No pesky labor unions to agitate for safer conditions and benefits. Truly great.
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So "Make America Great Again" leaves out 99.5% of people?
Yeah, just like when the phrase was first used.
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It's just a throwback line from the past... and the whole theme in Italy and Germany about a century ago.
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
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So "Make America Great Again" leaves out 99.5% of people?
No. Make America Great Again is a meaningless slogan targeted at 99.5% of the people. Why do you think he cares about America at all? How's the price of eggs doing? He did say he would drop those on day one which was a critical point of his entire campaign. What happened on day one? Well... at least it's called Gulf of America now.
'MURIKA! 'MURIKA! 'MURKIA!
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Yes we do. The collective noun for a any significantly large group of people should be called an "Idiot of Humans". People vote against their self interest all the time.
Also medium. Now you've done it, now I actually crave one. *goes and warms up coffee machine*
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The hope is that the useless paper pushers will get new jobs actually producing something. The question is, what are they to produce? We are short of electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and a variety of agricultural field workers. The latter were supposed to be replaced by robots a decade ago, but picking strawberries is harder than computers programmers think it is.
Re:Mump (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re: Mump (Score:3)
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Wait until deep red MAGA country sees what a white people roofing job costs.
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Replacing IRS phone centers with AI bots makes perfect sense. The IRS claims no responsibility for any answers they give you over the phone. Yep, look it up.
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Replacing IRS phone centers with AI bots makes perfect sense. The IRS claims no responsibility for any answers they give you over the phone. Yep, look it up.
They also have an obscene hold time, so using AI bots here would actually improve service quality.
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Heh
You owe... all your monies are belong to us in taxes. Have a nice day,.. Dave.
Wait, wut? I'm not Dave...
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Trump needs money to pay for the tax cut he's about to give all the billionaires.
Tariffs are one way to raise the tax money that is lost.
The other way is to use AI to hallucinate your taxes so you end up paying more and rejecting your deductions so your taxes go up.
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IRS (Score:2, Interesting)
As a European I came across the IRS W8Ben form and its completely incomprehensible for me.This is bureaucracy on a completely new level.
In fact any disruption on the IRS side is very much appreciated. If humans cannot understand what the IRS is doing maybe machines would make it more rational and traceable.
Not sure if the products of VASTdata are worth it.
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This is the heart of the issue. A supercomputer is needed to manage tax collections.
How about first fixing the tax code so there is zero complexity for non-business people? Repeal 21st amendment and move to a consumption tax. You pay taxes at the checkout register. We already do it in 8 states and it works.
No more April 15th, H&R block and taking taxes from you paycheck. And no need for a HAL9000.
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[...] move to a consumption tax. You pay taxes at the checkout register.
That is a deeply regressive tax policy, and I suspect you know it. Such a policy targets the poor, because they spend a much higher percentage of their income just to stay alive. Whereas wealthy people get a very light tax burden in proportion to their income.
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The deeply regressive component is easily fixable. It could be determined how much the average person at the poverty line pays monthly in sales taxes. Every month the government sends each US citizen a check for that amount.
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No, it's not. You end up with the same issue as a flat tax, subsidize the poor, tax everyone the same (whether income or consumption), and who pays the lion's share? The people in the middle because the rich don't spend most of their income, they invest it to make more money (and in the US, pay a minimal tax on capital gains). Funny thing is, who is most likely to vote for that kind of plan? The middle class, who've been duped by the rich for years and the poor (and if you're poor, no blame, I'd be all on b
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comment to remove mod
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But I've lived in the US and seen some of the complexity. Taxes in the US are very different from what is found in the Europe, and I suspect it would be politically difficult for the US to change to something like what is found in Europe.
Just look at the differences when it comes to VAT, where in the US the percentage can be different in different states and is only p
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There's no rule that VAT has to be 20%. Here in Canada the GST, which is basically a VAT, is 5%. I also pay a Provincial sales tax of 7%.
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Re:IRS (Score:4, Informative)
It's not that different in the US from what you say Europe is like. If you're not doing anything "interesting", like making weird investments or running your own business, you basically just plug your W-2 and any 1099s you have into tax software you purchase and it fills in everything for you.
And, I expect that if you ever do "interesting" things in Europe, like running a business, being a landlord, or fronting money for someone's restaurant in exchange for equity, you will find that calculating your taxes has suddenly become much more involved.
Btw I am developing open-source tax software because it's dominated by proprietary products made by somewhat evil companies right now. Unfortunately, I only have bandwidth to make a completely non-user-friendly command-line version of it right now, and I also only have bandwidth to add support for the forms I currently personally need.
https://github.com/linuxrocks1... [github.com]
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Re: IRS (Score:2)
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While the US only has a local sales tax for the final transaction between the store and customer, and some form of certifacte between companies in order to avoid sales tax.
There are certainly other taxes, like income taxes, for local communities to pay for things like roads an
Re: IRS (Score:2)
Re: IRS (Score:5, Interesting)
The W-8BEN form is full of double negatives which makes it incomprehensible to anyone. You have to know what the purpose of the form is, before you try read it, so that you can guess what you are supposed to do with it.
What the f*** are you talking about? The W-8BEN form is one single page! [irs.gov] And the five clear questions at the top contain no double-negatives, and are there to determine whether you need to use some other form. The rest is basically identification info and a certification of your benefits under a tax treaty with a foreign country.
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The fact that you found a 1-page form asking you where you live and what country's citizenship you hold to be completely incomprehensible probably says more about your country's education system than about the IRS.
Hopefully put to good use. (Score:2)
One of the things that is difficult to do and we need a lot of is forensic accounting. While you can program a lot of behaviors, there are some things that rely on pattern matching which is where neural networks would be helpful. While my better judgement tells me this is likely a boondoggle, I'm hoping a few brilliant minds in the RAAS department will be able to put this to good use.
Hallucinations (Score:2)
Here's hoping the system doesn't hallucinate who is a tax fraudster.
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Well, the existing system has plenty of hallucinations without AI/ML which end up creating plenty of stress for a lot of people.
will they get the good power cables and connectors (Score:3)
will they get the good power cables and connectors?
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Seeing as these are supposed to be Blackwells in 8x configurations, I am guessing they are going to be B200's that are socketed in SXM6 sockets. There will be no power cables and connectors going into these suckers. My guess is that they will be getting the liquid cooled variety, though there is an air cooled version of the DGX B200 whose heatsinks on the GPU's are nuts (seriously... the heat sinks alone are about 6U tall!)
Remember Folks (Score:2)
Those 80000 IRS agents under the "inflation reduction act" were there to go after all those millionaires and billionaires strangely enough IRS audits on people making less than $200K / yr have gone up. [kiplinger.com]
Remember folks this is all "voluntary."
Meanwhile, data show that the IRS has audited nearly half a million taxpayers making less than $200,000 a year as recently as six years ago.
So, on one hand, there are political promises, and on the other, there’s the reality of who actually faces high IRS audit rates.
They go after the majority of taxpayers because we're the ones who can't afford the high-end tax lawyers to defend ourselves.
Opacity here we go (Score:3, Insightful)
The move towards governing by algorithm is very dangerous, specially as for one, current AI systems (LLM's) tend to hallucinate and are incredibly opaque to scrutiny of their decisions and choices. Other reasons include that there are a multitude of exceptions and special cases to deal with and while computation helps, a human should be ultimately accountable of the decision-making. The loss of accountability across the chain of decisions algorithms and/or AI systems will do would erode trust and open anything for a challenge in court.
Ultimately this also is largely undemocratic as congress and elected officials will lose visibility of the process...
Typical Trump & Musk robbery (Score:2)
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Re: What for? (Score:5, Insightful)
The new computer will find fraud committed by people like you and I while the rich will be ignored.
Re: What for? (Score:5, Funny)
---->reportViolation();
}
Re: What for? (Score:5, Interesting)
That is probably inevitable. Pattern marchers work best on the larger data sets (ordinary people) while the set of the evil rich is too small and too varied to get a good lock in.
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Funny, you sound just like a Republican from 2022.
Re: What for? (Score:5, Informative)
The IRS is a fantastic money maker when properly funded. https://www.taxpayeradvocate.i... [irs.gov]
In FY 2024, the IRS collected revenue of $5.1 trillion on an appropriated budget of $12.3 billion. That translates to a remarkable return on investment of 415:1
But they took rich people money so we can't have that happen anymore.
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Squeezing blood from turnips (Score:2)
Basically concurrence, except with the vacuous Subject. My version is supposed to be the joke, but speaking as a turnip, maybe it isn't funny.
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Then you should be thrilled by the installation of a $7 million supercomputer. Since the IRS is so efficient.
Meanwhile I was referring to the Inflation Reduction Act and its allocation of funds to hire 87000 new IRS agents. Critics (mostly Republicans) complained that they were being brought in for enforcement of petty 1099k violations, probably as a way to drive people away from newer payment networks and back towards well-established/controlled ones. And that (despite comments to the contrary) they pro
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You first bruh
Re: What for? [To feed the vacuous sock puppets] (Score:2)
Good point, but did you need to propagate the vacuous Subject to make it?
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Of course it will... there are a hell of a lot more people like you and I committing fraud and paying taxes in general. That's why increased spending ALWAYS primarily targets the middle class.
What this will do is end the historical partisan bias of the IRS by removing the humans from the equation. No more targeting small sole props, llcs, and partnerships. Also it'll cut how much money we spend collecting money.
It's fairly obvious to anyone watching, the reason Musk sends in a bunch of 20 something year old
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"So you believe the fed will dismantle SS/Medicare then."
Not exactly, because while SS/Medicare AREN'T constitutional they were promised to the American people and the people have paid for these benefits. SS and medicare as part of the federal budget is a misnomer [or should be], this should be an independent fund and I suspect that is exactly what they have in mind. Of course part of that is going to include paying back the money that has been borrowed from the fund.
Why do you think they set up the new fun
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You’re committing fraud?
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Jesus you people are fucking dumb....if you took EVERY cent of Musk, Bezos, Zuckerburg's current net worth....It'd barely scratch the surface of the national debt. And that'd be a one time deal...because then their wealth is gone.
What possible "tax cut" could make any significant impact to their lifestyles....such that they would be engaging in your dumb conspiracy?
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Strawman much? Nobody is trying to get "every cent" the oligarchs have, in order to pay down the national debt. These oligarchs just need to pay their fair share of taxes, like everyone else. And doing so would not make any "significant impact" to their lifestyles. They're filthy rich already.
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Mainly the oligarchy-loving billionaires want power and most of them want a legacy for their heirs. Ruling the most powerful country on Earth seems like a pretty obtainable goal, look how far they've gotten already.
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These oligarchs just need to pay their fair share of taxes
Please define "fair share".
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These oligarchs just need to pay their fair share of taxes
Please define "fair share".
ShanghaiBill, nice to see you again. I believe you're a person of goodwill, and I hope you feel the same way about me. That said, I think it's hard for people to agree perfectly on what's "fair" when it comes to tax rates, and you and I likely are not exceptions.
Let's start with tax rates as defined by the government of the day. In most countries these are progressive: those who earn more pay tax at higher marginal rates. But we also see ways for wealthy people to "game" the system by making use of special
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PERCENTAGE. learn how it works.
Also, look into day fines next.
I don't mind paying higher taxes because it means I made more money.
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editor's note: if you don't understand how taxes work, please don't comment
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In 1950, the top marginal tax rate was 91% for most of the 1950s and early 1960s. Seems fair.
There were so many loopholes that no one actually paid those rates.
The more the rich spent on accountants and structuring, the lower their taxes.
So how is that "fair"?
editor's note: if you don't understand how taxes work, please don't comment
Indeed.
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In 1950, the top marginal tax rate was 91% for most of the 1950s and early 1960s. Seems fair.
There were so many loopholes that no one actually paid those rates.
The more the rich spent on accountants and structuring, the lower their taxes.
So how is that "fair"?
It's 100% fair. The tax rate is set, after that it's the people's job to not elect representatives that consistently vote against their own interests.
See the modern day GOP and their crusade to lower their own and wealthy buddies taxes while cutting Medicaid, food stamps and social security benefits.
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Where do you think those trillions in savings will end up? It certainly won’t come back to taxpayers.
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So you think it's a waste of time? A step in the wrong direction? Do you think when people realize its the equivalent of $5700 per citizen....the citizens will be happy that the government is wasting that much? Do you think it'll have zero impact on inflation?
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Nothing....with regards to bird flu. Everything....with regards to the dollar being devalued by government idiocy.
Re:What for? (Score:5, Insightful)
Literally the greediest motherfucker on the planet, by the numbers, has the actual keys to the treasury... and you think he's here to save you. ROFL. He looks at that amount he is going to "save" taxpayers like a cartoon wolf looks at a ham.
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So he can become rich?
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So he can become rich?
Maybe, just maybe, he's an avarice fueled asshole like a certain villain in the Simpsons.
You know, Mr. Burns, you're the richest guy I know. Way richer than Lenny. Oh, yes. But I'd trade it all for a little more.
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You're conveniently excluding things that they are intending to go after.
Plus, you idiots are acting like they'd be getting taxed on their net worth.....YOU aren't even getting taxed on your net worth. Their actual INCOME per year, and taxes generated from it...would be disappointing to you. EVEN if their tax bracket happened to be 100%.
But if you do want to do net worth taxation....then you're just back to the fact that even a 100% tax on their net worth(confiscation), would barely make a scratch in gove
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But to your point, if you look at how much money can be saved after excluding the big ticket items like SS, medicare, defense, there is not much to be cut from the budget
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See now, THEY are the ones that have actually executed smart business plans...that generate billions of dollars in salaries for their employees....that in turn generate billions of dollars of income tax revenue...that then create economic activity that also generates tax revenue. Plus all the contractors and vendors they deal with, that also pay taxes.
But yes, lets cry about your definition of "not enough" coming from 3 solitary individuals.
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Where do you think the money comes from to pay those government salaries? The dollar gets devalued every year, to pay those leeches.
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He didn't make $170 billion....nobody cut him a check for $170 billion. His net worth increased by $170 billion.
That isn't cash in a bank...it's stock that he already owned, that increased in value. If he doesn't sell it...there's nothing to tax.
If he wants to make a $170 billion purchase...he will have to cash out, at which point he WILL have to pay tax on it. He's subject to the same rules we are.
Even if the current tax framework remains static....his assets will be subject to taxation someday. You sh
Re: What for? (Score:4, Interesting)
Do you honestly think your taxes or food costs will get lower from this charade?
Re: What for? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Buy local.
Re: What for? (Score:2)
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Nothing about taxes says have to be mandatory. Sales tax is technically not mandatory, nor is property tax or income tax for that matter, never mind that . Everyone knows and most probably agree with the fact that cigarettes are taxes in a manner different from other items, an entire category of taxes revolves around this concept. [wikipedia.org]
Tariffs are a tax, plain and simple and that's OK, taxes are neither good nor bad in and of themselves and frankly one of the grossest distortions in public discourse over my li
Re: What for? (Score:2)
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A tariff is a tax on imports [Re: What for?] (Score:2)
It is not a Tax. It is not mandatory.
And sales tax is not a tax, because it is not mandatory that you have to buy things. And income tax is not a tax, because you don't have to make money.
But in a world where we don't arbitrarily change the meanings of words, a tariff is a tax on imports paid for by the person receiving the imported goods.
Re: A tariff is a tax on imports [Re: What for?] (Score:2)
Re: What for? (Score:4, Interesting)
You missed that there were a bunch of gov auditors who were doing sweet blue all and who let all the fraud happen. Trump fired most of their sorry asses. Now DOGE is finding billions (another 1.9 billion today) of obvious fraud that was previously concealed by these supposed gov auditors. The blatant fraud and abuse is mind boggling.
Citations please. If this supposed fraud and abuse is so "mind boggling" and was "previously concealed" by these auditors then you must have copious evidence to share with us, right?
Re: What for? (Score:4, Insightful)
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“He basically had the vibe of a McKinsey consultant and came in and asked about headcount and how many people are in each department,” the Treasury source said, adding, “He had a black Mac, which didn’t seem to be government issue, and five iPhones.”
That doesn't sound like "doing better" than anything, but he did indeed have five iphones. "Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat," said Sartre.
Re:What for? (Score:5, Interesting)
Except when it comes to his own corporate welfare. https://fortune.com/2025/02/13... [fortune.com]
Also someone fucked up and left this line up on before it was removed. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/0... [nytimes.com]
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Less government = less regulations = more grift