Intel just announced their 14th Gen Core Ultra processors – which is using the Meteor Lake architecture. This new architecture is different from what Intel had before – because it now has a CPU, GPU, and also an NPU built into a single die.
An NPU, or neural processing unit, is more like a hardware made specifically to run anything related to AI efficiently. Of course, it can be made to run different LLM (large language models) for generative AI – for example, LLaMA, Stable Diffision, Whisper, all of those models. Both the GPU and CPU will still be used for AI-related tasks but for different scenarios.
One of the reasons why having an NPU built into the processor is great is because we can finally run these generative AI programs directly on our laptops, detached from the internet. It is also faster yet more efficient. And since everything is done locally, privacy is ensured as no data is transferred or transmitted out from your computer.
Now, we don’t have any solid numbers from our side as a benchmark, it is obviously going to be faster in generative AI performance thanks to the GPU and GPU offload.
There is one question that we all have – how will this new Intel Core Ultra with a built-in NPU help in our day-to-day computing? Well, it’s not made just for generative AI. It can also be used for things like video call apps like Zoom as it can do a lot of video and audio filtering or effects much faster and more efficiently, hence prolonging the battery life of the laptop.
Likewise, content creators can also benefit from it as many applications are starting to adopt some tasks that involve AI.
While the neural processing capabilities of the Intel Core Ultra might not seem like something impactful now, we also expect its usage to grow even more as anything related to AI has a lot of untapped potential. The world of AI and its application is only going to grow as more innovations start to pop out everywhere.
Even Intel’s XeSS – a supersampling technology – is using AI-based rendering to speed up the frame render time. And that is why gaming on the integrated Intel Arc graphics is an actual viable option now.
From what we can see, the all processors under the new Intel Core Ultra branding will have the neural processor that Intel is called the Intel AI Boost, with 2x Gen 3 neural compute units. Not quite sure what that means – but okay.
To learn more about the Intel Core Ultra and all of its performance, click here.
