Intel's Upcoming Chip to Locally Run Generative AI Based Chatbot

On Tuesday (Sep 19), Intel announced that a new chip due in December will be able to run a generative artificial intelligence chatbot on a laptop rather than relying on cloud data centres for computing power.

The capability, which Intel was expected to demonstrate at a software developer conference in Silicon Valley, could allow businesses and consumers to test ChatGPT-style technologies without sending sensitive data away from their own computers. It is made possible by new AI data-crunching features built into Intel's upcoming "Meteor Lake" laptop chip, as well as new software tools released by the company.

Executives at Intel are also expected to say that the company is on track to deliver a successor chip called "Arrow Lake" next year, and that Intel's manufacturing technology will compete with the best from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, as promised. Intel was once the best chip manufacturer, fell behind, and now claims to be on track to reclaim first place.

In the market for powerful chips used in data centres to "train" AI systems such as ChatGPT, Intel has struggled to gain ground against Nvidia. Intel announced on Tuesday that it was building a new supercomputer for Stability AI, a startup that creates image-generating software.

But the market for chips that will handle AI work outside data centres is far less settled, and it is there that Intel aimed to gain ground on Tuesday.