The emergence of the neural processing unit (NPU) may be heralded as a game changer for personal computers (PCs), but finding the right balance in product design remains critical to deliver what consumers want. Growing workplace demand for artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including generative AI (GenAI), has prompted industry players such as chipmakers and device manufacturers to ensure their products can support this shift. In particular, PCs will need to keep up as companies move AI workloads from the cloud to client devices. This shift can improve performance by removing the need to send AI workloads to the cloud and back to the user’s device. Companies could also bolster data privacy and security by retaining data on the device, rather than moving it to and from the cloud. Because AI tasks that run locally on a PC are typically executed by the CPU (central processing unit), GPU (graphics processing unit), or both, the device’s performance and battery life can degrade, as neither are optimized for processing AI tasks. That’s where AI-specific chips, or NPUs, come in. During the global pandemic, user requirements revolved around the ability to work remotely and support a geographically-dispersed workforce. This drove improvements in built-in camera and videoconferencing capabilities, according to Tom Butler, Lenovo’s executive director of commercial portfolio and product management, who heads the hardware maker’s commercial notebook portfolio. This pushed Lenovo to focus its efforts on enhancing camera and video quality as well as building microphones that support noise segmentation. Users also wanted good laptop performance, including long battery life, Butler said.
Full story : How neural processing unit and artificial intelligence may change the way we work, play and pass time.
