Technology company Intel has launched a new project, the AI PC Acceleration Program, with the aim of promoting the performance-enhancing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in software development. The company is working with more than 100 software companies to create over 300 AI-accelerated features by the end of 2024.
So far, Intel has already attracted a considerable group of partners to this project. These include renowned companies such as Adobe, Audacity, BlackMagic, BufferZone, CyberLink, Deep Render, Magix, Rewind AI, Skylum, Topaz, Video Com, Webex, Wondershare Filmora, XSplit and Zoom. These partners all use Intel’s OpenVINO development environment to customize their own software programs accordingly.
At the heart of the new features are the built-in AI accelerators that Intel will introduce in its next-generation Meteor Lake processors for notebooks. These accelerators will allow programs to learn to use AI features efficiently. However, if the AI accelerator is not fast enough, OpenVINO also allows the use of the conventional processor cores or GPU shaders.
One AI function that is already popular today is the blur function that softens backgrounds in video conferences. Shifting this calculation from the CPU cores to the specific Neural Processing Units (NPU) can save energy and thus extend the battery life of notebooks.
With the newly announced “AI PC Acceleration Program”, Intel is addressing the problem that although more and more new processors have integrated AI accelerators, they have rarely been used so far. Intel’s new program mainly focuses on the support for its own Core Ultra processors.
However, it remains unclear to what extent the processor manufacturer AMD could also indirectly benefit from the initiative. An interesting project in the course of this initiative is that of the company Deep Render, which plans to optimize its video compression with the help of AI technology.
