Supercomputers have been around for decades and have undergone remarkable transformations in terms of capacity, speed, and features. With their unparalleled ability to process large volumes of data, these high-performance computing machines have become the cornerstone of numerous industries, including scientific research, finance, engineering, and entertainment, to mention a few. One area that has particularly benefitted from supercomputers is Artificial Intelligence. With AI driving innovation in various sectors, the need for advanced computing power has never been more important. This article explores how to get the best supercomputers for AI and why these machines are essential for AI development.
## What are supercomputers?
Let’s first define what supercomputers are. A supercomputer is a powerful computing device that can perform complex calculations and data processing at very high speeds. These machines consist of thousands of interconnected processors that can work together to perform calculations much faster than traditional computers. As such, supercomputers are best suited for handling heavy computing workloads like scientific simulations, weather forecasting, and AI-based analyses.
## Why do we need supercomputers for AI?
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we live and work. From personalized healthcare to autonomous vehicles, AI is making rapid strides and generating tremendous amounts of data. This massive data requires significant computing power to process, analyze, and extract insights that can be useful in decision-making processes. In this regard, supercomputers provide the necessary computational resources for developing sophisticated AI models that can learn from vast amounts of data.
Moreover, supercomputers have the capability of increasing the speed at which AI systems process data. This allows for quicker and more accurate decision-making that is essential in applications such as autonomous vehicles, where safety concerns necessitate instant decision-making based on real-time data sets.
## How to get the best supercomputers for AI?
Getting the best supercomputer for AI depends on several factors. Here are some of them:
### 1. Processing Power
The processing power of a supercomputer is everything when it comes to developing AI models. You need a supercomputer with high processing power to handle the vast amounts of data required by AI systems. The processing power of supercomputers is measured in Floating-Point Operations Per Second (FLOPS). Top-tier supercomputers today deliver processing speeds of 100 petaFLOPS or more.
### 2. Storage Capacity
The amount of storage capacity required for AI is directly proportional to the size of the data sets being used. This means that a supercomputer with a large storage capacity is required to store large amounts of data as used by AI systems.
### 3. Connectivity
Supercomputers for AI need to have high-speed connectivity to handle the large volumes of data that AI systems generate. Typically, these supercomputers will be connected to high-speed networks, particularly ones that have recently emerged such as 5G networks, which can handle large data sets quickly and efficiently.
### 4. Availability of AI-specific Software and hardware
A supercomputer that you can use for AI should have software that is designed specifically for AI applications. Such software might come with a set of built-in tools to boost data interpretation, analysis, and scaling up the processing capacity.
Additionally, having hardware that is specifically designed for AI allows these AI applications to run more efficiently. Specialized hardware such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) used by most supercomputers for AI speed up neural network training and can execute comparison operations more quickly than traditional hardware resources.
### 5. Power Consumption
Supercomputers consume substantial amounts of power. It is important to choose a machine that has low power consumption to minimize the operational costs. With the energy demands of supercomputers for AI rapidly increasing, breakthroughs in new technologies such as computing that utilizes light to process data rather than electricity will be the future.
## Real-life examples of Supercomputers in AI
Supercomputers are essential to modern AI, and there are several real-life examples of how these machines are being used to power AI development.
### 1. OpenAI’s supercomputer
OpenAI unveiled the world’s largest and fastest language processing supercomputer called GPT-3. The machine is based in the cloud, and it uses AI algorithms that can understand natural languages, including text, voice, and images. The supercomputer has a capacity of 175 billion parameters, making it the most powerful language processing device worldwide.
### 2. IBM’s Watson
IBM’s Watson is another powerful supercomputer that uses AI algorithms to analyze vast amounts of data. Watson has been widely used in the healthcare industry to analyze medical records and help doctors make better diagnoses. Additionally, Watson can be programmed to handle specific tasks and workflows, including supply chain management, customer service and many others.
### 3. Google’s TPU
Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) are specialized hardware optimized for deep learning workloads. TPUs have been deployed across Google’s data center and have been used in developing “Bert,” Google’s high-performing natural-language processing algorithm.
## Conclusion
Supercomputers play a vital role in developing AI applications that can help us understand complex datasets and extract value from it. When selecting a supercomputer for AI development, it is important to focus on processing power, storage, connectivity, and availability of software and hardware resources that are specifically designed for AI. Lastly, supercomputers should be opt-in for low power consumption, so as to minimize operational costs. With the right supercomputer, that has all the necessary specs, building and training AI models will be much more manageable and efficient, making it an essential tool in AI research and development.