Although computers are overwhelmingly digital today, there’s a good point to be made that analog computers are the more efficient approach for specific applications. The authors behind a recent paper in Nature are arguing that inference – essential for LLMs – can be done significantly more efficiently using an analog optical computer (AOC).
As the authors describe it, the function of this AOC is to perform a fixed-point search using only optical and analog electronic components. The optics handle the matrix-vector multiplications, while the analog components handle the non-linear operations, subtractions and annealing. This is performed in 20 ns cycles until noise has been reduced to an acceptable level, considering the analog nature of the computer. A big advantage here is that no analog-digital conversions are required as with other (digital) hybrid systems.
So far a small-scale AOC has been constructed for tasks like image classification and non-linear regression tasks, with the authors claiming the AOC being over a hundred times more efficient than current GPU-derived vector processors.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
All rights reserved to : USAGOLDMIES . www.usagoldmines.com
You can Enjoy surfing our website categories and read more content in many fields you may like .
Why USAGoldMines ?
USAGoldMines is a comprehensive website offering the latest in financial, crypto, and technical news. With specialized sections for each category, it provides readers with up-to-date market insights, investment trends, and technological advancements, making it a valuable resource for investors and enthusiasts in the fast-paced financial world.