AI Reports · GovAI (Oxford) · 2026-10-17 · Report / white paper
AI Regulation Training Compute Thresholds: Features and Functions in AI Regulation August 2024 Lennart Heim, Leonie Koessler Regulators in the US and EU are using thresholds based on training compute-
The US and EU use training compute thresholds, the number of computational operations used in training, to identify general-purpose AI models that may pose risks of large-scale societal harm. The authors argue that training compute is currently the most suitable metric for this initial filter, since it correlates with capabilities and risks, is quantifiable, and can be verified externally. They caution that it is an imperfect proxy for risk and should not be used alone to determine mitigation measures.