AI chips to become more accessible thanks to open-source tech

DUBAI

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) chips will become easier and cheaper with open-source technology, “as long as the hardware chips are really programmable and people can be creative about how they build the new solutions,” said a chip expert.

Jim Keller, a US-based microprocessor engineer who has worked at AMD, Apple, and Tesla, told Anadolu that “actually, AI processors are simpler than people think.”

“And people would like you to believe you need $100 billion to develop an AI processor — you don’t,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of GITEX Global in Dubai, one of the world’s leading tech and AI events.

Keller stated his firm, Tenstorrent, developed open-source technology ranging from AI processors to general-purpose processors, while they also made the AI compiler open-source, meaning it is publicly available.

He noted that open-source chips cost less and feature a more accessible structure.

“The current models are really good; they’re still getting better,” he said. “Every day I read an article that something’s hit a limit -- we haven’t got close to the limit. The demand for it is really, really big; so, I don’t know, the next five years are going to be really interesting.”

Keller stated that some countries’ restrictions on the chip sector are not going to work out in the long run, “because some of the technology is really open already, (and) people publish a lot,” he said.

“What turns out is (that), when you restrict one area, you just force that area to develop it by themselves, and then so far what’s happened is that (it) just means they catch up,” he said. “I hope we get to a world where it’s more open and there’s less restrictions.”

“Every company is kind of different, right, (and) they have different cultures,” he noted regarding his work at AMD, Apple and Tesla.

“The thing that works best is when the team is driving towards a really good goal, like a great product, and then I really like when the engineers can own their own work and be really inspired about what they do every day and who they work with,” he said.

“I’d like to create a really open environment where everybody gets to learn, gets to do something, (and) gets to own their destiny,” he added.

The 45th iteration of GITEX Global kicked off Monday and it will continue until Friday, with the participation of 6,800 companies from 180 countries.