With a brain size of 2,400 home computers and a database of 10 million documents; augmented by AI, IBM Watson supercomputer is dubiously yet famously predicted massive takeover of all time.
Artificial intelligence complements the abilities and reinforces human talent. Coined in 1955 to describe a new computer science sub-discipline, “Artificial Intelligence” today includes a variety of technologies and tools, some time-tested, others relatively new. IDC estimated that the AI market will grow from $8 billion in 2016 to more than $47 billion in 2020.
Supercomputers today have already turbocharged some AI applications. Let’s take a brief look at the top 5 smartest AI-powered machines on Earth, ranked by Top500.
- Summit
Summit is the fastest supercomputer in the world and the first to reach exaop (exa operations per second) speed. Having achieved 1.88 exaops during a genomic analysis, Summit is expected to reach 3.3 exaops using mixed precision calculations.
Manufactured at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, United States, Summit is providing scientists with incredible computing power to solve challenges in energy, artificial intelligence, human health, and several other research areas.
- Sierra
Built for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for use by the National Nuclear Security Administration, Sierra has a very similar architecture to Summit. It is primarily used for predictive applications in stockpile stewardship, helping to assure the safety, reliability and effectiveness of the United States’ nuclear weapons.
- Sunway TaihuLight
The name Sunway TaihuLight is translated as divine power, the light of Taihu Lake. This Chinese supercomputer Is used for a wide range of computationally intensive tasks in various fields, including quantum mechanics, weather forecasting, climate research, oil and gas exploration, and molecular modelling.
However, China’s Zhang Ting supercomputer is predicted to be an exascale computer, with the capability of at least 1 quintillion calculations per second.
- Tianhe-2
Tianhe-2, or the ‘Milky Way 2’ supercomputer located in the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou, China. Developed by a team of 1300 scientists and engineers, it is capable of physics-related applications. The Proposed applications for the supercomputer include studying combustion and magnetism and also to model the atmosphere.
- Frontera
The fastest academic supercomputer in the United States, Frontera, is a successor to Stampede 2 with a peak performance of 35-40 petaflops. It has been developed for academic purposes such as modelling and simulation, big data, and machine learning.
“The Frontera system will provide researchers computational and artificial intelligence capabilities that have not existed before for academic research,” said Intel vice president and general manager of Intel’s extreme computing organization, Trish Damkroger. “With Intel technology, this new supercomputer opens up new possibilities in science and engineering to advance research, including cosmic understanding, medical cures, and energy needs.”
Future of AI-powered Smartest machines
According to HP CEO Meg Whitman, “The secrets to the next great scientific breakthrough, industry-changing innovation or life-altering technology hide in plain sight behind the mountains of data we create every day. To realize this promise, we can’t rely on the technologies of the past, we need a computer built for the big data era.”
From the high definition movies, we stream, to the weather, traffic and other satellite info we use, the future lies in plain old number-crunching. That’s what supercomputersf do best. Technology is easy to be taken for granted, yet it can have an incredible impact, both beneficial or adverse, on our lives. We are yet to see the true extent of its potential.
Are we foreseeing a super-intelligent future or are we taking a step closer to impending doom?
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You may also like to read about applications of AI in various spheres such as AI in Healthcare.
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