Need to Fit Billions of Transistors on a Chip? Let AI Do It

Will Knight | Wired Magazine

Artificial Intelligence is now helping to design computer chips—including the very ones needed to run the most powerful AI code. Sketching out a computer chip is both complex and intricate, requiring designers to arrange billions of components on a surface smaller than a fingernail. But recent advances in AI have made it possible for algorithms to learn some of the dark arts involved in chip design. This should help companies draw up more powerful and efficient blueprints in much less time.

Song Han, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, says reinforcement learning shows significant potential for improving the design of chips, because, as with a game like Go, it can be difficult to predict good decisions without years of experience and practice.

Complete article from Wired.