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Could China’s Taichi light-based chip show the way on AI?
- Researchers at Tsinghua University say they have come up with a faster, more energy-efficient phonotic circuit
- The development is a promising step towards real-world photonic computing, Science journal associate editor says
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Zhang Tongin Beijing
Scientists with Tsinghua University have developed Taichi, a light-based artificial intelligence chip that they say is much faster and more energy efficient than traditional electronic chips.
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In a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Science on Thursday, the researchers said the chip was more than 1,000 times as energy efficient as the high-performance Nvidia H100 GPU, a chip that is not available in China because of US government trade restrictions.
According to the research team, the chip performs well in artificial general intelligence (AGI) tasks such as image recognition training and ChatGPT-like content generation.
After being trained on images from a range of artistic styles, Taichi could transform input images into works in the manner of various artists.
The chip uses photonic integrated circuits (PICs), which use light instead of electrical signals to process data, enabling information to be transmitted at extremely high speeds and bandwidths but with much less energy than electronic devices.
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AI computing has become a high-energy-consuming industry, and researchers are racing to try to improve efficiency.
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