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May 03, 2024

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For years, heavy-duty AI workloads were confined only to the data centers of big tech companies and specialized research labs. But a new category of personal computing device is about to bring advanced AI capabilities into homes and offices around the world: the AI PC.

While Microsoft has recently tried to define them using hardware specs (and by adding a new key to Windows keyboards!), AI PCs are essentially desktop computers or laptops with added hardware that’s capable of large model inference (and perhaps even training). Unlike traditional PCs which rely mostly on CPUs for general computing tasks, an AI PC has a more heterogeneous compute architecture that allows it to lean heavily on modern GPUs or other specialized AI accelerators (known as NPUs) to handle the hundreds of trillions operations per second (TOPS) required for large AI workloads.

According to NVIDIA, we will see two categories of AI PCs: those powered by NPUs used primarily for inference and those with GPUs which could also potentially be used to train smaller models

Several leaders in computing hardware are already developing AI PCs, with expected product launches later this year:

NVIDIA recently unveiled the GeForce RTX SUPER desktop GPUs used by manufacturers including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Razer and Samsung for upcoming AI laptops that will deliver TOPS-related performance increases of 20x to 60x compared with previous generation systems.
Qualcomm has announced a series of Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite chips for AI PCs expected to ship from OEMs starting mid-2024. The Snapdragon X lineup is notable because it has been optimized for an upcoming version of Windows designed to natively run AI software on the Arm CPU architecture.
Apple's next-generation Macs are expected to pack a custom Apple Silicon chip designed from the ground up for AI and machine learning tasks.

So what could this new supercomputing power offer to the average person just a few months from now?

Here are a few possibilities based on demonstrations we’ve seen so far:

Hyper-intelligent assistants: Windows was the first operating system to integrate a more advanced AI assistant in the form of Copilot. However, Copilot runs in the cloud and cannot answer basic queries and handle simple tasks when it’s not connected to the internet. But the large language models running directly on an AI PC could provide a digitally intelligent assistant that people can use on the go and will be almost as capable as a human expert across nearly any domain: writing, analysis, coding, math, creative projects and more. Need an essay ghostwritten or lines of code debugged in an obscure programming language? Your AI assistant will be up to the task.
Real-time multimedia intelligence: Today's AI models can already automatically caption images, transcribe audio and video, and generate synthetic media. But an AI PC could take these capabilities to new heights, instantly creating high-quality keynote presentations from a simple prompt or deliver personalized media experiences (such as music or movies)—all in real-time as the content is consumed.
Photorealistic synthetic media: One of the most interesting capabilities of modern AI is its ability to generate incredibly realistic synthetic images, video, audio, and text. While the industry has made huge progress in the last 12-18 months, current methods are still limited because they require access to cloud computing. But an AI PC could open the floodgates for creators to leverage vast AI models to generate photorealistic digital content on demand for videos, games, marketing, and more.

Even though I’ve been skeptical of the utility offered by mobile AI computing devices, the coming wave of AI PCs has the potential to create a broad range of new uses cases, creating a similar effect to the original PC revolution enabled by the transition to personal computing in the 1980s and 1990s.

And now, here are this week’s news:

❤️Computer loves

Our top news picks for the week - your essential reading from the world of AI

⚙️Computer does

AI in the wild: how artificial intelligence is used across industry, from the internet, social media, and retail to transportation, healthcare, banking, and more

The Telegraph: AI-backed app could help elderly and save £1bn a year
VentureBeat: BioRaptor and Aleph Farms use AI to lower the costs of cultivated beef
BBC: The insect farmers turning to AI to help lower costs
Bloomberg: AI Is Helping Automate One of the World’s Most Gruesome Jobs
TechCrunch: Airbnb releases group booking features as it taps into AI for customer service
Wired: A Vast New Data Set Could Supercharge the AI Hunt for Crypto Money Laundering
TechCrunch: Yelp is launching a new AI assistant to help you connect with businesses
The Telegraph: How AI could become an unlikely ally in the fight against forest fires
Fortune: Japan has had so many bear attacks in the past year it’s turning to AI to act as a warning system
Wired: I Tried These AI-Based Productivity Tools. Here’s What Happened
Business Insider: I'm using my synesthesia to create a new genre of AI art. The technology can 'read' my paintings and help me compose music.
The Atlantic: I Witnessed the Future of AI, and It’s a Broken Toy
Washington Post: An AI blood test purports to diagnose postpartum depression
The Information: How Tesla Used a San Francisco Neighborhood to Improve Its Driverless Technology
The Verge: ChatGPT’s AI ‘memory’ can remember the preferences of paying customers
BBC: AI technology in Northamptonshire catches drivers on mobiles

🧑‍🎓Computer learns

Interesting trends and developments from various AI fields, companies and people

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