![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/prototype-brain-like-chip-promises-greener-ai-says-tech-giant/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/130718877_gettyimages-1466716029.jpg&description=Image source, Getty Images A prototype "brain-like" chip could make artificial intelligence (AI) more energy efficient, its developer, technology giant IBM, has said. Concerns have been raised about emissions associated with warehouses full of computers powering AI systems. IBM said its prototype could lead to more efficient, less battery draining AI chips for smartphones. Its efficiency is down to components that work in a similar way to connections in human brains, it said. Compared to traditional computers, "the human brain is able to achieve remarkable performance while consuming little power", said scientist Thanos Vasilopoulos, based at IBM's research lab in Zurich, Switzerland. He told the BBC the superior energy efficiency would mean "large and more complex workloads could be executed in low power or battery-constrained environments", for example, cars, mobile phones and cameras. "Additionally, cloud providers will be able to use these chips to reduce energy costs and their carbon footprint," he added. Most chips are digital, meaning they store information as 0s and 1s, but the new chip uses components called memristors [memory resistors] that are analogue and can store a range of numbers. You can think of the difference between digital and analogue as like the difference between a light switch and a dimmer switch. The human brain is analogue, and the way memristors work is similar to the way synapses in the brain work. Prof Ferrante Neri, from the University of Surrey, explains that memristors fall into the realm of what you might call nature-inspired computing that mimics brain function. A memristor could "remember" its electric history, in a similar way to a synapse in a biological system. "Interconnected memristors can form a network resembling a biological brain," he said. He was cautiously optimistic about the future for chips using this technology: "These advancements suggest that we may be on the cusp of witnessing the emergence of brain-like chips i){kind=link}
A prototype “brain-like” chip could make artificial intelligence (AI) more energy efficient, its developer, technology giant IBM, has said.
Concerns have been raised about emissions associated with warehouses full of computers powering AI systems.
IBM said its prototype could lead to more efficient, less battery draining AI chips for smartphones.
Its efficiency is down to components that work in a similar way to connections in human brains, it said.
Compared to traditional computers, “the human brain is able to achieve remarkable performance while consuming little power”, said scientist Thanos Vasilopoulos, based at IBM’s research lab in Zurich, Switzerland.