By Alimat Aliyeva<\/p>\n
A team of researchers led by Aydogan Ozcan at the University of
\nCalifornia, Los Angeles (UCLA), has developed a groundbreaking
\ntechnology that could transform the way generative artificial
\nintelligence (AI) systems operate \u2014 by using light instead of
\nelectricity. Their findings were recently published in the
\nprestigious journal Nature, Azernews reports.<\/p>\n
Modern generative models \u2014 especially diffusion-based ones like
\nDALL\u2022E 2 or Stable Diffusion \u2014 require enormous amounts of energy.
\nTraining these models on large datasets can consume tens of
\nthousands of kilowatt-hours. To put that into perspective, the
\naverage household uses around 3,000 to 10,000 kilowatt-hours of
\nelectricity per year. So training just one AI model can require as
\nmuch energy as several homes consume annually.<\/p>\n
Even generating a single image isn\u2019t energy-free. On traditional
\nGPUs, a single full diffusion process can consume tens of
\nwatt-hours. Multiply that by 1,000 steps per image, and you’re
\nlooking at hundreds of watt-hours \u2014 roughly equivalent to running
\nan electric kettle for one or two hours.<\/p>\n
The new optical approach, however, is radically different.<\/p>\n
Instead of relying on energy-hungry processors, the system uses
\na beam of light. A digital encoder first creates a “noise circuit”
\n\u2014 a pattern that requires almost no power. This pattern is then
\nprojected onto a laser beam using a spatial light modulator (SLM).
\nThe light, carrying this noise pattern, passes through a second
\nSLM, which transforms it into a fully rendered image. In essence,
\nthe laser is doing all the heavy lifting, not the computer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur optical generative models can synthesize countless images
\nwith virtually no computing power, offering a scalable and
\nenergy-efficient alternative to digital artificial intelligence
\nmodels,\u201d said Shiqi Chen, the study\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n
The implications of this technology are vast. Thanks to its
\nultra-low energy consumption and high processing speed, it could be
\nintegrated into lightweight devices \u2014 from virtual and augmented
\nreality systems to smartphones, wearable gadgets, and even
\nAI-powered glasses.<\/p>\n
Researchers believe that by harnessing light, AI could finally
\nbecome both environmentally sustainable and accessible on a much
\nbroader scale. The combination of speed, energy efficiency, and
\nimage quality may signal the beginning of a new era \u2014 one where
\npowerful generative AI doesn’t have to come with a massive carbon
\nfootprint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Alimat Aliyeva A team of researchers led by Aydogan Ozcan at the University of California, Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9872,64,63,961,9874,9870,1348,174,1048,164,9873,9871,84,9869,105,940,1346],"class_list":["post-106591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-analytics","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-azerbaijan","tag-azernews","tag-baku","tag-breaking-news","tag-business-news","tag-company-news","tag-economy","tag-financial-news","tag-oil-and-gas-news","tag-politics","tag-socar","tag-technology","tag-turkey","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}