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AI Computer Chip Designs Passeth Human Understanding
Does it really matter whether or not humans understand the technology they are using?
(AI design features unusual and efficient, circuitry patterns.)
A new study published in Nature Communications tried a different approach: a deep-learning-enabled design process for creating circuits and components. Using artificial intelligence (AI), researchers at Princeton University and IIT Madras demonstrated an “inverse design” method, where you start from the desired properties and then make the design based on that.“Humans cannot understand them, but they can work better,” said Kaushik Sengupta, the lead researcher, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Princeton...
The AI-driven method focused on designing wireless chips, which are extremely important for high-frequency applications like 5G networks, radar systems, and advanced sensing technologies...
The researchers trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) — a type of AI model — to understand the complex relationship between a circuit’s geometry and its electromagnetic behavior. These models can predict how a proposed design will perform, often operating on a completely different type of design than what we’re used to.
The study showcased a range of use cases, from simple one-port antennas to complex multi-port RF (radio frequency) structures like filters, or power dividers. The AI-designed compact antennas that function across two distinct frequencies, improving performance for multi-band devices. Within minutes, it synthesized filters with precise band-pass characteristics, a task that would have taken days or weeks before.
Science fiction writers have been concerned about whether or not computers can design themselves better than humans can design them. In his 1960 novel Vulcan's Hammer, Philip K. Dick describes a vast computer that designs itself while serving to run human affairs:
Very little of the computer was visible; its bulk disappeared into regions which he had never seen, which in fact no human had ever seen... Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface, to be carted off, and the variety, amount, and nature of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.The financial cost of supporting Vulcan 3 was immense... At the latest estimate, Vulcan 3's share of the the taxes came to about forty-three percent.
Beneath his feet the floor vibrated... What lay down there? Energy, tubes and pipes, wiring, transformers, self-contained machinery... He had a mental image of relentless activity... worn-out parts replaced, new parts invented; superior designs replaced obsolete designs. And how far had it spread? Miles?
One of the earliest descriptions of the idea that computers design computers is provided by Isaac Asimov in a 1958 story The Feeling of Power:
The President considered that. He said, "... in practice, how can anyone know how a computer works?"Brant laughed genially. "Well, Mr. President, I asked the same question. It seems that at one time computers were designed directly by human beings. Those were simple computers, of course, this being before the time of the rational use of computers to design more advanced computers had been established.
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