Hardware AI Accelerators – An Overview

In this article, Alastair Lowe provides an overview of the background and technical requirements of AI accelerators – data processors that are specifically designed to perform hardware-accelerated AI tasks.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are booming technology areas that already impact our daily lives in many ways. For example, AI is already used in diverse applications such as facial and number plate recognition software, self-organising communication networks, speech recognition, navigation, self-driving vehicles, and even visual artistry and music. Increasing AI workloads in these and other areas has led to a huge increase in interest in hardware acceleration of AI-related tasks.