Microsoft today announced it will update Windows to accommodate an AI platform. This could be a problem for gamers who rely on GPU power. Intel, however, has a solution.
Microsoft today announced it will bring baked-in AI to its operating systems in the next Windows update. Soon, PCs will operate complex machine learning applications locally that normally run in the cloud. Unfortunately for gamers this will be accomplished by tapping the power of graphics processing units (GPUs). Thankfully, however, Intel has an alternative.
When the slew of new machine-learning based apps, programs, and core processes begin to infiltrate the new Windows AI platform – and you can bet it’ll be sooner rather than later – the best way to power them will be harnessing as much GPU power as possible. This is apparent in the fact Microsoft has partnered with both AMD and Nvidia to support the update.
Technically, a CPU could provide the necessary power, but it’ll probably start to bog down other applications as more power is required to conduct baked-in AI functions like running a virtual assistant or sorting photos.
Most people don’t need a fancy GPU if they aren’t actively gaming or editing video. And this means that developers can decide to suck up GPU resources and leave CPUs untouched without disturbing most users.
If things weren’t bleak enough already for gamers, with GPU costs skyrocketing after the cryptocurrency community appropriated the most popular cards for mining rigs, they certainly would be were it not for Intel’s visual processing units ( VPUs).
Intel and Microsoft have partnered up to give Windows developers access to hardware alternatives. According to Microsoft corporate vice president for the Windows Developer Platform Kevin Gallo:
To be clear, the Windows update will provide driver support for other AI processing chips as well – not just Intel’s. But it’s encouraging to see the two companies working closely on the update ahead of time.
And let’s give credit where it’s due: this is an excellent update from Microsoft. It’s AI division last year unveiled ONNX, a platform that allows developers to convert models between different machine learning bases, and this is a logical extension of that work.
Consumers stand to benefit heavily from apps running on baked-in Windows AI, but until now Microsoft’s OS hasn’t been the most inviting for machine learning developers. We talked to AI expert Or Fleisher, creator of Volume, who told TNW:
It’s obvious this is a necessary update, but gamers shouldn’t be overlooked. The PCs of tomorrow, and by that we mean literally tomorrow, are going to need dedicated chips to run these fancy new AI processes.
Because no offense Microsoft, but if we have to choose between running The Witcher 3 on ultra settings or using Cortana: Geralt is probably going to come out on top.
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