Google's AI-designed chip and the nature of intelligence

In a paper published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature last week, scientists at Google Brain introduced a deep reinforcement learning technique for floorplanning, the process of arranging the placement of different components of computer chips.

The AI’s superiority to human performance has drawn a lot of attention. One media outlet described it as “artificial intelligence software that can design computer chips faster than humans can” and wrote that “a chip that would take humans months to design can be dreamed up by [Google’s] new AI in less than six hours.”

Another outlet wrote, “The virtuous cycle of AI designing chips for AI looks like it’s only just getting started.”

But while reading the paper, what amazed me was not the intricacy of the AI system used to design computer chips but the synergies between human and artificial intelligence.

Read the full analysis on TechTalks.

For more on AI research:

• Machine learning security needs new perspectives and incentives

• IBM’s Project CodeNet will test how far you can push AI to write software

• Adversarial training reduces safety of neural networks in robots: Research