The relentless advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications necessitates the development of specialized hardware accelerators capable of handling the increasing complexity and computational demands. Traditional computing architectures, based on the von Neumann model, are being outstripped by the requirements of contemporary AI/ML algorithms, leading to a surge in the creation of accelerators like the Graphcore Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU), Sambanova Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit (RDU), and enhanced GPU platforms. These hardware accelerators are characterized by their innovative data-flow architectures and other design optimizations that promise to deliver superior performance and energy efficiency for AI/ML tasks. This research provides a preliminary evaluation and comparison of these commercial AI/ML accelerators, delving into their hardware and software design features to discern their strengths and unique capabilities. By conducting a series of benchmark evaluations on common DNN operators and other AI/ML workloads, we aim to illuminate the advantages of data-flow architectures over conventional processor designs and offer insights into the performance trade-offs of each platform. The findings from our study will serve as a valuable reference for the design and performance expectations of research prototypes, thereby facilitating the development of next-generation hardware accelerators tailored for the ever-evolving landscape of AI/ML applications. Through this analysis, we aspire to contribute to the broader understanding of current accelerator technologies and to provide guidance for future innovations in the field.

Decision-making problems can be modeled as combinatorial optimization problems with Constraint Programming formalisms such as Constrained Optimization Problems. However, few Constraint Programming formalisms can deal with both optimization and uncertainty at the same time, and none of them are convenient to model problems we tackle in this paper. Here, we propose a way to deal with combinatorial optimization problems under uncertainty within the classical Constrained Optimization Problems formalism by injecting the Rank Dependent Utility from decision theory. We also propose a proof of concept of our method to show it is implementable and can solve concrete decision-making problems using a regular constraint solver, and propose a bot that won the partially observable track of the 2018 {\mu}RTS AI competition. Our result shows it is possible to handle uncertainty with regular Constraint Programming solvers, without having to define a new formalism neither to develop dedicated solvers. This brings new perspective to tackle uncertainty in Constraint Programming.

This paper is devoted to sequential decision making with Rank Dependent expected Utility (RDU). This decision criterion generalizes Expected Utility and enables to model a wider range of observed (rational) behaviors. In such a sequential decision setting, two conflicting objectives can be identified in the assessment of a strategy: maximizing the performance viewed from the initial state (optimality), and minimizing the incentive to deviate during implementation (deviation-proofness). In this paper, we propose a minimax regret approach taking these two aspects into account, and we provide a search procedure to determine an optimal strategy for this model. Numerical results are presented to show the interest of the proposed approach in terms of optimality, deviation-proofness and computability.