Shrinking AI Down to an Optoelectronic Chip

The prototype technology brings together imaging, processing, machine learning and memory in one electronic chip, powered by light. If scientists could train artificial intelligence (AI) systems to remember the images they capture from their photodetectors and learn from them--all in one package--it would be one step closer to an artificial brain. But the huge data sets and computer power required to make sense of them usually require offloading images elsewhere for processing--unlike a natural brain. Now, researchers in Australia have developed a neuromorphic imaging chip that performs image pre-processing and recognition by itself (Adv. The optically driven chip, made of two-dimensional black phosphorus, demonstrates a way to combine AI software and imaging hardware in a brain-like package that could run autonomously.