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Intel Lays Roadmap For 100-Fold AI Performance Boost With Nervana and Knights (hothardware.com)

MojoKid writes: Intel is laying out its roadmap to advance artificial intelligence performance across the board. Nervana Systems, a company that Intel acquired just a few months ago, will play a pivotal role in the company's efforts to make waves in an industry dominated by GPU-based solutions. Intel's Nervana chips incorporate technology (which involves a fully-optimized software and hardware stack) that is specially tasked with reducing the amount of time required to train deep-learning models. Nervana hardware will initially be available as an add-in card that plugs into a PCIe slot, which is the quickest way for Intel to get this technology to customers. The first Nervana silicon, codenamed Lake Crest, will make its way to select Intel customers in H1 2017. Intel is also talking about Knights Mill, which is the next generation of the Xeon Phi processor family. The company claims that Knights Mill will deliver a 4x increase in deep learning performance compared to existing Xeon Phi processors and the combined solution with Nervana will offer orders of magnitude gains in deep learning performance. "We expect the Intel Nervana platform to produce breakthrough performance and dramatic reductions in the time to train complex neural networks," said Diane Bryant, Executive VP of Intel's Data Center Group. "We expect Nervana's technologies to produce a breakthrough 100-fold increase in performance in the next three years to train complex neural networks, enabling data scientists to solve their biggest AI challenges faster," added Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.

44 comments

  1. the blockquote is reversed by SethJohnson · · Score: 1

    BeauHD has reversed the blockquote on this. MojoKid wrote the summary and that is blockquoted. Then the actual quoted section from the linked article is not blockquoted. Should be the other way around if consistency is to be observed.

  2. 100-fold faster generation of bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What a load of PHB bean-counter marketoid bullshit.

    "Data scientists" still care jack shit about reality. 90% of today's "machine learning" [sic] work is about justifying the bias. The rest 10% is about tracking you and taking away your freedom, replacing your reality with an echo chamber, while making you pay for it.

    We expect Nervana's technologies to produce a breakthrough 100-fold increase in performance in the next three years to train complex neural networks, enabling data scientists to solve their biggest AI challenges faster

    100x faster generation of bullshit still achieves nothing but bullshit. It's not about always about how fast you do it.

    1. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      replacing your reality with an echo chamber

      So, it's a Slashdot replacement? In that case, booo!

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re: 100-fold faster generation of bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I want it to play Pokemon Go for me, so hopefully it connects to Bluestacks.

    3. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Repeat after me: AI won't come from solid state alone. AI is not even coming from computer science alone. Intelligence, artificial or otherwise, is not programmable, by definition.

    4. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      I concur 100% !

      Only a complete and total idiot attempts to call Code + Data == A.I. We already have a name for that: Algorithm.

      The complete and total fail of the Standard Model is that consciousness, let alone intelligence, doesn't even exist! They just "magically" emerge out of nothing. /sarcasm Yeah, right. Can I have some of what you're smoking!

      This obsession over Artificial Ignorance (A.I) compared to actual intelligence (a.i.) is total joke. There is NOTHING artificial about intelligence -- either you have it or you don't.

      Biocomputing is where actual intelligence will come -- hijacking the term algorithm to mean A.I. doesn't make it so.

      --
      First Contact is tentatively scheduled allowed to happen in 2024. Are you ready to move past the junk Science of Darwinism and the junk Faith of Creationism?

    5. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by 4wdloop · · Score: 1

      A.I. = algorithm intelligence ?

      --
      4wdloop
    6. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by haruchai · · Score: 1

      "consciousness, let alone intelligence, doesn't even exist! They just "magically" emerge out of nothing. /sarcasm Yeah, right. Can I have some of what you're smoking!"

      Everyone knows they magically emerges out of God's bollocks, which magically emerged out of nothing - or has been eternally dangling over the multiverse or some other bullshit fairy tale

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    7. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      You DO realize Science preaches the exact same thing, right?

      Energy can not be created nor destroyed, therefore it has always existed.

      Who the fuck cares if someone calls it God while others call it Energy ???

    8. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by haruchai · · Score: 1

      "Energy can not be created nor destroyed, therefore it has always existed"
      Yeah, that part after the therefore is an addition of yours while conveniently leaving out that the conservation of energy applies to closed / isolated systems.
      And even allowing for your creative rewording, that DOES NOT imply a supreme being with infinite power, knowledge & intelligence

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    9. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by hackwrench · · Score: 1

      So what is your definition, because by my definition, you are wrong, but it is generally ill-defined.

    10. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      > Yeah, that part after the therefore is an addition of yours

      Are you really that retarded? If something can't be created nor destroyed then BY DEFINITION it has existed for infinity.

      It is like looking at circle and asking where the beginning or end is. There isn't one.

      > while conveniently leaving out that the conservation of energy applies to closed / isolated systems.

      The universe is a closed system.

      --
      2024 is the year that Junk Science of Darwinism vs Junk Faith of Creationism are BOTH shown to be incomplete.

    11. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by haruchai · · Score: 1

      > Yeah, that part after the therefore is an addition of yours

      Are you really that retarded? If something can't be created nor destroyed then BY DEFINITION it has existed for infinity.

      It is like looking at circle and asking where the beginning or end is. There isn't one.

      > while conveniently leaving out that the conservation of energy applies to closed / isolated systems.

      The universe is a closed system.

      --

      You have no idea what you're "defining". We don't know how our universe came to be or where the "energy" came from.
      We don't even know what "energy is; it's a concept
      And calling it "God" , whatever it is, is primitive thinking

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    12. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      > I don't know how our universe came to be or where the "energy" came from.

      FTFY.

      Why do you assume everyone is as ignorant as you??

      Just because _you_ don't know doe NOT imply no one else doesn't know. This is the height of arrogance.

      You haven't had my experiences -- you don't have my knowledge. As a mystic I'm quite well aware were the Universe and Energy come from. If you can't even understand basic concept of Infinity or Existence then labeling someone who is aware of God as "primitive thinking", ironically, only proves how primitive your thinking is.

      But go ahead and keep pretending that the Laws of Physics just magically appeared out of nothing.

      > We don't even know what "energy is; it's a concept

      I guess the "Sun" is just a concept and this "heat" that I _experience_ is jus a concept, along with this sunburn.

      *facepalm*

      There is a term for someone who doesn't understand concepts: An idiot.

      Thankfully there is also a place to get educated: It is called School and University. You might want to try it sometime.

    13. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by haruchai · · Score: 1

      "Thankfully there is also a place to get educated: It is called School and University. You might want to try it sometime"

      Please tell me which ones gave you passing grades so I know where not to apply.

      "As a mystic I'm quite well aware were the Universe and Energy come from"
        thanks, Doctor Strange but I'll pass on your "school" of "thought"

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    14. Re:100-fold faster generation of bullshit by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Your fallacy is assuming Experiential knowledge can be taught.

      If you would spend less time shooting the messenger and more time listening to the message you might actually learn something.

  3. add-in cards for gaming by Iamthecheese · · Score: 1

    Amazon (where Musk's OPen AI went) and Google already have a huge investment in focusing on video cards. Force them to use a new kind of logic and it will go really slow. Instead focus on the other technology driver. Get ten AAA games to advertise support for this card (with results visible in the game) and you'll kickstart development and sell fifty thousand units, while having the first new "must have" since Phys-X was folded in to graphics cards.

    --
    If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
    1. Re:add-in cards for gaming by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Yes, gamers will expend thousands of dollars for Xeon Phi cards.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:add-in cards for gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't underestimate gamers..
      I have seen a lot of them that would spend hundreds, if not thousands, just to get 10FPS more.
      Ever seen those guy's that use nitrogen cooling too be cool? Yep - that are gamers.....

    3. Re:add-in cards for gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nobody actually plays games with something that requires to be refilled every few minutes, nitrogen is only used by overclocking enthusiasts to push the limits of hardware while running some benchmarks, nothing more.
      Even peltier cooling that can be used with common heatsinks has ice buildup problems that make it impractical for day to day use.

      You'll have more success with the so called gamers by selling them overpriced chinese hardware with fancy colors.

  4. what the fuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is h1 2017? Half 1?

  5. Neural Nets by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

    Neural Nets? What is this, the 1940s? All this AI "research" and neural nets are the best they can come up with? What a joke.

    1. Re: Neural Nets by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      I think it was actually advances in learning algorithms, but the extra speed is good in any case (you still need to evaluate the network).

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:Neural Nets by rkordmaa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Whats wrong with neural nets, its the only known technique that can produce programs capable of performing tasks a programmer doesn't know how to do. Deepmind programmers were not in fact better Go players than the world champion, but with neurals nets they did indeed produce a program that beat the world champion. That's pretty awesome, its one thing to use a machine to do something faster than a human can, its completely different thing do use a machine to do what human doesn't know how to do.

    3. Re: Neural Nets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it wasn't. If there have been advances in the algorithms, it's only because the availability of copious storage and parallel processing is now a reality.

    4. Re: Neural Nets by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      It's both, wanker.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    5. Re:Neural Nets by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      That's pretty awesome, its one thing to use a machine to do something faster than a human can, its completely different thing do use a machine to do what human doesn't know how to do.

      Indeed! I would go so far as to say that if the IBM's Watson/Jeopardy stunt doesn't impress you, then you haven't understood the problem.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    6. Re:Neural Nets by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      What is this, the 1940s? All this AI "research" and neural nets are the best they can come up with?

      After 4 billion years of evolution, neural nets are also the best that natural intelligence has come up with.

    7. Re: Neural Nets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope, wanker.

    8. Re: Neural Nets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cunt butter.

    9. Re: Neural Nets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its more like a dogs urine flavored ice lolly

  6. 100 * crap = ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please tell me some useful things that deep learning does?

    1. Re: 100 * crap = ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This?

      https://www.tesla.com/en_EU/videos/autopilot-self-driving-hardware-neighborhood-short?redirect=no

    2. Re:100 * crap = ? by psycho12345 · · Score: 1

      Cut Google electric bill by a not small amount

      https://deepmind.com/blog/deep...

      Effective power savings of 15%

    3. Re:100 * crap = ? by hackwrench · · Score: 1

      See if this has anything useful: http://eplex.cs.ucf.edu/neat_s...

  7. Nervana and Knights by rossdee · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a rock group

    Do the Knights include Sir Elton John, Sir Paul Macartney and Sir Rod Stewart?

    "We'll kill the fathead, coughed the knight, so stick around"

    1. Re:Nervana and Knights by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      Also, consider that the AES instructions are called AES-NI (new instructions) in Intel parlance. So I wonder if these new chips feature something like Knights-NI.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    2. Re:Nervana and Knights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure but the cipher text will result in the sequence: ichyichyichypatangzoopboing

  8. Hmmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Smells like teen spirit.

  9. Show Some Love For Genetic Algorithms by rectalfeeding · · Score: 3, Informative

    Whats wrong with neural nets, its the only known technique that can produce programs capable of performing tasks a programmer doesn't know how to do.

    Show some love for Genetic Algorithms. Sure you may have to thoroughly verify that their 'better than a programmer' optimal solution is actually a correct solution but- they have existed for a long time even if as yet unspectacularly leveraged (in publicly visible ways that would have made them rank in your book)

  10. Re:h1 by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    The first half of 2017?

  11. Here we go again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Machine learning" is a computer algorithm and has little in common with the only real exemplar for AI .... us. It is being touted as progress in AI but it most definitely belongs with heuristic computing. This classification technique (one of a number all related in terms of distance measurement between samples) can benefit by using parallel techniques so that part of the story is OK. But please can we not fan the flames of AI again .. until we have understood that computers are only a tool in this activity and are not related to AI architecture. (IE we can use computers to make models for AI activities but the real system is tightly coupled to our environment via a suite of sensors and obeys a control system paradigm which handles events which are predominantly open loop).