Exponential Intelligence: Microsoft Is Building the First AI Supercomputer

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the next big thing in the world of computing, and it is expected to change the way we look at computers. Even the tools and methods used to create AI (machine learning, deep neural networks, etc.) are starting to power everything from search engines to your Facebook feed. Microsoft wants to stay ahead in that game and has announced the way it plans to do so: via the cloud. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has boasted that Microsoft's Azure Cloud will be the world's first AI supercomputer, and that sounds like a match made in heaven. AI, machine learning, neural networks…all of those require massive processing power, and the cloud is the perfect vehicle to deliver that power as it can utilize multiple processors and devices instead of relying on one big processor.