Ai2 replaces priority scheduler with GPU budgets and time-slicing

Key points

• Ai2's AI Infrastructure team swapped a priority-based scheduler for GPU time budgets, hierarchical fair-share allocation, and a time-slicing contract.
• Clusters of 88 to 1024 GPUs serve about 150 internal researchers, with outstanding requests reportedly 2-3x available GPUs.
• Workloads must declare a minimum runtime; unbudgeted, zero-runtime jobs are free but always preemptible.
• Automated draining of unhealthy hosts reportedly cut repairs needing a human-in-the-loop by 74%.

Why it matters for marketers: Teams sharing GPU clusters can see how budget-based allocation and minimum runtime contracts reduce idle capacity and on-call toil.