United Kingdom 'horse race' supercomputer launched in AI
Tha government has pledged to spend £1 billion to increase Britain's computing capacity 20 times by 2030.
The UK has officially launched its 'most powerful supercomputer' as the start of a major government move to boost artificial intelligence or AI research.
Tha UK government has brought a powerful supercomputer called 'Izambird-AI' online as part of a billion-pound investment in AI, the British daily Independent reported.
In This 'Izambird-AI' supercomputer was launched in Bristol on Thursday by UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle. Tha country's ministers said the government's move would help the UK discover new medical treatments and develop new technologies to reduce pollution.
Tha government has pledged to spend £1 billion to increase Britain's computing capacity 20 times by 2030, the Independent wrote. This includes the creation of multiple AI 'growth zones' or development areas, where approvals for the construction of new data centers will be quickly granted. Chancellor Rachel Reeves estimates that building a second supercomputer in Edinburgh, Scotland, will cost £750 million. In addition, there are plans to build a new supercomputer in Wales.
According to the government, alongside a supercomputer in Cambridge, ‘Izambard-AI’ can work so fast that it can do in just one second what ‘the entire world’s population together could do in 80 years’.
Scientists and business people will be able to use such supercomputers to analyse vast amounts of data to create AI models, which the government claims will enable major advances in the discovery of new drugs and technologies to combat climate change.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool are already using the machine to analyse billions of chemicals, so that it can find ways to decarbonise Britain’s industrial sector, the Independent reported.
The initiatives are part of the UK’s new ‘Compute Roadmap’, a strategy to reduce reliance on foreign processing power and increase the country’s own computing power.
The UK government hopes to have 420 exaflops of AI computing power by 2030, meaning the system will be able to do in just one second what would take a beillion people more than 13,000 years to do.
To help implement these plans, the UK government has brought together a group of researchers, academics and technology leaders to create an AI-powered science strategy, which is due to be published this autumn, the Independent reports.
The expert team includes Pushmit Kohli, vice-president of Google DeepMind, Alison Noble, vice-president of the UK’s Royal Society, and Charlotte Dean, chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Reeves said the plans would “transform our public services, drive innovation and drive the economy forward, putting more money in people’s hands.”
