The government\u2019s high-risk science investment group is funding a test lab for start-ups to prove their AI chips can compete with those made by Nvidia and position the UK to grab a share of a $1 trillion industry.<\/p>\n
The Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) is committing \u00a350 million to the initiative. An initial \u00a316 million grant is going to the Cambridge-based not-for-profit CommonAI organisation, which will host the testbed for the next two and a half years.<\/p>\n
The facility, called the Scaling Inference Lab, aims to provide a shortcut to commercialising new technologies in a similar way to the National Quantum Computing Centre<\/a>, which lets quantum firms house and test their systems. The lab will operate in cycles, proving new AI compute systems every six months.<\/p>\n Suraj Bramhavar, Aria\u2019s programme director, said it needed to move quickly because of the speed at which AI compute technologies are emerging.\u00a0\u201cWe want to provide a place that is a neutral playing field where anyone can come and bring their prototype and we will be a willing first customer,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe will create the infrastructure that allows you to plug in your new technology and test it on real workloads and get some early data. They [start-ups] can then use that data to increase their leverage with investors or potential customers or their own internal purposes. This non-profit, neutral aspect is not something any venture capital firm will fund.\u201d<\/p>\n Aria\u2019s decision shifts its focus away from funding research, under its \u00a350 million Scaling Compute programme. However it remains committed to its goal to lowering the cost of developing AI capabilities by as much as 1,000 times.<\/p>\n