If we say that in September last year, Huawei released the Kirin 970 chip, which opened the prelude to intelligent end-to-end, then the HiKey 970 now released is the starting point for driving the end-use AI application outbreak, which is of great significance.
Why do you need to wake up sleeping smart?
Before explaining HiKey 970 in detail, we must first talk about what is end-to-end intelligence, and why it requires end-to-end intelligence.
We all know that the development of artificial intelligence depends on three major factors: deep learning algorithms, high-quality big data, and high-performance computing. However, in reality, the focus of artificial intelligence is on the cloud side. Emphasis on the ability of cloud computing. Many companies, especially the artificial intelligence in the eyes of Internet companies, are 'from the mobile phone to the cloud, and then return to the cloud from the cloud' approach.
Under the leadership of cloud-side intelligent thinking, the role of cloud computing is infinitely amplified. Internet companies all claim to have an omnipotent brain in the cloud, which mines, analyzes, and analyzes the data collected by various terminals and intelligently. Various applications of various terminals dictate. Some people even think that 'the future of the Internet industry is to use artificial intelligence in the cloud to handle big data'.
However, cloud-side intelligence can not avoid three problems: First, how to do when there is no network? Second, how to solve the problem of real-time data? Third, how to effectively protect user data privacy? Especially the third issue, Recently, it has attracted everyone's attention. Whether it is the US Facebook crisis or the domestic killing of big data, people are paying more and more attention to their data privacy protection. On the cloud side, users' data will be uploaded to the cloud. Who is the owner of these data, the platform or the user? Which of these data can be used and which cannot be used? If these problems are not solved well, artificial intelligence cannot sustainably develop in a healthy manner.
The counterpart to the cloud-side intelligence is the end-side intelligence. That is, the data operation occurs in the terminal. The advantage of the end-side intelligence is that the user's mobile phone itself becomes its artificial intelligence assistant, and the user can select whether the data is shared. Specifically, If the user cares about their own data privacy, they can choose not to upload the data to the cloud. However, under the support of the end-side intelligence, the mobile phone can process the user's own data, which can also bring artificial intelligence experience. , Users will not reveal their data privacy, but also can enjoy the wisdom and convenience brought by artificial intelligence. Therefore, the future of AI should be a collaborative model of intelligent and cloud side intelligence.
In the past, the reason why the terminal-side intelligence was asleep for a long time was because of the need for high-speed computing and low power consumption. The efficiency of the AI operation using the CPU was low. Until the second half of last year, this situation was changed. Huawei introduced Kirin 970 chip, Apple's A11 bionic chip, all use a special neural network engine to perform AI operations, thereby promoting end-to-side intelligence becomes a reality. Take Kirin 970 as an example. In terms of performance, its NPU is 25 times that of normal CPU. , GPU 6.25 times, and less energy.
The intelligent outbreak of the side, the application of ecological prosperity is the key
Kirin 970, A11 and other chips with built-in specialized AI units have been introduced to make end-to-end intelligence become a reality. However, this is only the first step. In order for an end-to-side intelligence to burst, it must have a prosperous application ecosystem.
This is because simple AI operations are meaningless. It is only worthwhile to bring real convenience and different experiences to people through AI applications. For example, Huawei Mate 10 series phones with Kirin 970 can display The application of AI value is mainly for photographing and translation. Because of the AI, it is possible to automatically recognize scenes when photographing, and to configure and optimize parameters so that Xiao Bai can also take professional photo-quality photos. For translation, endian AI Computation, so that the translation does not need to be done on the cloud side, so it greatly increases the speed of translation.
Obviously, this is far from enough. AI makes mobile phones not only tools, but personal assistants of users. By analyzing big data of user behaviors, excavating, and then deep learning, artificial smart phones can sense and understand humans. , Actively provide users with intelligent services. All this requires the application of the ground, but the application can not be done by the chip or mobile phone manufacturers themselves, requires numerous application developers to join in order to develop a variety of rich AI applications .
The HiKey artificial intelligence open platform was launched for this purpose. Specifically, HiKey enables developers to develop various AI applications based on the Kirin 970 chip. This is because not all developers can buy a Unicorn 970 chip. Mobile phone development, and the interface on the phone can not perfectly meet the needs of developers. In contrast, HiKey is a development board specifically for developers, it is an amplified unicorn 970 chip, but also specifically for developers to customize AI development environment.
It can be said that the introduction of HiKey is of great significance for the promotion of AI. Before, many AI application developers are developing AI applications based on CPU or GPU. The efficiency is not high, and it also limits their ability to develop related applications and imagination. Space. The built-in NPU of HiKey, dedicated to AI operations, has powerful performance. Unicorn 970 processes 2005 images per minute, and in the absence of NPU, only 97 images are processed in the same time.
More importantly, HiKey's HiAI layer provides hardware support for GPUs, CPUs, DSPs, ISPs, and NPUs. When an application is running, the chip determines the workload and latency requirements, and then automatically selects the GPU or AI accelerator to execute. Relevant processing, which can achieve the effect of optimal performance processing, will also open up new exhibition space for end-side AI application developers.
The era of a smart phone is accelerating
According to Zhou Chen, director of Huawei's wireless terminal chip product marketing, in addition to launching the HiKey platform to unlock a wide range of ideas for developers, Huawei also provides a variety of ways to support and help developers. For example, Huawei is constantly updating and upgrading. The version of the development kit made it more powerful and easier to use. At the same time, the Huawei Consumer Cloud Service launched the 'Yao Star Plan' last year, announcing a 1 billion fund to encourage developer innovation around AR/VR, AI, In areas such as IoT, provide personnel training, development support, innovation support, marketing support, and a series of funding and resource support to promote the development of application ecology.
Through the HiKey artificial intelligence open platform and a series of support initiatives, we can see that Huawei's openness is amazing, and is opening up its own software and hardware tools to developers. Obviously, this is a win-win move. For developers For example, based on the world-class AI platform such as the Unicorn 970, it can develop applications for more than 300 million Huawei mobile phone users who are still growing. Qian Jingquan; for users, the smart phones can be integrated with rich AI applications. Let smartphones evolve into the era of smart phones and gain a good experience. For Huawei, rich AI applications will greatly enhance Huawei's attractiveness of mobile phones and promote the development of intelligent side-by-side.
Zhou Chen said that there are already a large number of AI applications that have started to emerge, mainly in the visual video, live broadcast, language classes, and translation classes. This series of applications is itself the earliest application environment of AI technology and has been successfully implemented. Moved to the side. But this is only the first step. The future is based on a powerful end-to-end computing environment. Based on the needs of users, the wisdom of application developers can be used to have more room for imagination.
For example, AI is mainly used for scene recognition and parameter configuration for photographing. Actually, an end-to-end smart phone has its own brain, which can not only 'see' the world, but also 'understand' the world. For example, For those who are losing weight, if you can take a look at the food, you will know that the calories it contains are even better. I am a gout patient and I always hope that my application is to pat food and you will know the food. The purine value. In addition, I also particularly like an application called 'color'. When I go out for a trip, I take pictures of flowers and plants and I can know their names. Just because of the cloud computing, the recognition speed is very slow. + Cloud's combination, I believe it can come out a lot of interesting and practical applications.
Moreover, in the AI era, end-side smart applications do not necessarily appear in the form of APP, but are more intelligent and seamlessly integrated with the user's scene. Huawei's consumer business CEO Yu Chengdong once said that artificial intelligence promotes the smart phone software ecosystem. From the APP era to the AI era, subvert the entire industry ecosystem. Smartphone push capabilities will not be limited to APP, and push methods will become more and more rich. In Huawei Mate 10 series mobile phones, smart scenario assistants have initially achieved this, mobile phone automatic recognition Schedules for business trips to Shenzhen on the user's calendar will automatically push ticket bookings, airport pick-ups and other services. Recently, the fast application standards and instant application ecology alliance launched by Huawei and other ten mobile phone manufacturers are also very imaginative. AI, will open a new door for application developers, lower development costs, more native experience, will be able to provide users with smarter, more context-based active services based on the terminal.
Recently, Huawei became the exclusive title partner of the 2018 Goers' First Division. Huawei's actions on the AI, just like the close contact between AI and Go. When technology meets tradition, new imagination is opening up. HiKey Artificial Intelligence Open Platform The launch allows developers to fully exploit and use the Kirin 970 artificial intelligence capability and powerful computing power to open up the imagination to develop more and more abundant applications. Huawei alone, or several developers cannot describe the future , Only more developers and users will join in order to jointly create a big prosperity for AI.
In short, Huawei's introduction of the HiKey artificial intelligence open platform is a major event in the development of AI. If the launch of Unicorn's 970, A11 chip unveiled the premise of end-side intelligence, then the introduction of HiKey has opened the front end. The big curtain of AI application development. With the prosperity of AI applications, Smart Phone will really jump into the exciting era of Intelligent Phone!