The bleeding edge: In case you have not seen, AI know-how is all the fashion with the children recently. If it is not Dall-E or Stable Fusion; it is ChatGP, Bart, Bing Chat, or another firm’s massive language mannequin. Not eager to get left within the mud, the UK sank a large funding into constructing the following exascale supercomputer.
The UK has introduced plans to take a position £900 million ($1.1 billion US) in a brand new supercomputer to create its personal GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) AI mannequin. Tentatively dubbed “BritGPT,” it will likely be one of many world’s strongest computing units, able to performing over one billion billion easy calculations per second (exaflops). Currently, the one supercomputer constructed to this scale is “Frontier” at Oak Ridge National Laboratory within the US.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt introduced the choice Wednesday, saying, “Because AI wants computing horsepower, I at present commit round £900m of funding … for an exascale supercomputer.”
The Guardian notes that the UK goals to make use of the supercomputer to develop AI know-how it will possibly use throughout varied industries, from healthcare to finance. The practically £1 billion funding is a part of a broader push to determine the UK as a frontrunner in AI know-how. Officials and business leaders concern falling behind within the AI business, which the US and China at present dominate.
“We suppose there is a danger that we, within the UK, lose out to the massive tech corporations, and presumably China, and get left behind … in areas of cybersecurity, of healthcare, and so forth,” mentioned BT Group’s Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer Adrian Joseph. “It is an enormous arms race that has been round for a while, however the warmth has actually been turned up most not too long ago.”
That warmth being the latest developments and wide-range releases of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and different corporations’ massive language fashions (LLM). The UK authorities has already invested closely in R&D and initiatives to help the expansion of AI-related companies within the nation.
One of the important options of BritGPT will probably be its capability to course of huge quantities of knowledge shortly and precisely. This energy will allow researchers to coach AI fashions extra successfully, resulting in extra correct predictions and higher decision-making. It may also permit corporations to research massive datasets extra shortly, enhancing effectivity and lowering prices.
“[This investment will] permit researchers to higher perceive local weather change, energy the invention of recent medication, and maximize our potential in AI,” mentioned a spokesperson for the British Treasury.
The £900 million funding contains £10 million ($12 million US) earmarked for annual AI improvements. Each yr for the following ten years, analysis teams can compete for a £1 million award the Treasury dubbed the “Manchester Prize,” named after the Manchester Baby—an early pc constructed on the University of Manchester in 1948. The grant goes to essentially the most notable AI breakthrough for the yr.
Image credit score: OLCF at ORNL
