Did you know that light could be the key to unprecedented performance in artificial intelligence? Ultra-fast and low power consumption. All thanks to the next, small photonic chips, with the hand of the Polytechnic of Milan.
Neural networks and photonic chips: the perfect marriage
Le neural networks inspired by our brain they are the basis of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies. However, their training requires a tremendous amount of energy and time. This is why photonic chips can make a difference: by harnessing light, these circuits can create much more energy-efficient computing units.
The Politecnico di Milano has developed (I'll link the study here) programmable photonic processors integrated on silicon microchips. These devices are used to build photonic neural networks of extraordinary performance.
How do the photonic chips of the Politecnico di Milano work?
The chip of the Politecnico di Milano integrates a photonic accelerator that exploits a programmable grid of silicon interferometers: the real strength of these photonic neural networks is the ability to learn quickly and accurately.
In summary, a photonic "brain" achieves precision comparable to that of traditional neural networks, but with truly remarkable speed and energy savings. “The computation time is equal to the transit time of light in a chip of a few millimeters, so we are talking about less than a billionth of a second (0,1 nanoseconds),” he says Francesco Morichetti, head of the Photonic Devices Lab of the Milan Polytechnic.
Such circuits can truly revolutionize many aspects of computing: in addition to neural networks, these devices can be used as computing units in other applications that require high computational efficiency. Graphics accelerators, mathematical coprocessors, data mining, cryptography, quantum computers. Pretty much everything.
A bright future for artificial intelligence
There are several places where innovations are born that could revolutionize the world of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. It's nice to know that Photonic is among the world's best Devices Lab e Polyfab, the micro and nanotechnology center of the Politecnico di Milano.
Even in this field, as in information technology, Italy can light the spark of the future. After all, it's always about light.
