Engineers build artificial intelligence chip: The new design is stackable and reconfigurable, for swapping out and building on existing sensors and neural network processors

Now MIT engineers have taken a step toward that modular vision with a LEGO-like design for a stackable, reconfigurable artificial intelligence chip. The design comprises alternating layers of sensing and processing elements, along with light-emitting diodes (LED) that allow for the chip's layers to communicate optically. Other modular chip designs employ conventional wiring to relay signals between layers. Such intricate connections are difficult if not impossible to sever and rewire, making such stackable designs not reconfigurable. The MIT design uses light, rather than physical wires, to transmit information through the chip.