
Expect Deeper and Cheaper Machine Learning - jonbaer
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/expect-deeper-and-cheaper-machine-learning
======
rsp1984
_And the drone manufacturer DJI is already using something akin to a deep-
learning ASIC in its Phantom 4 drone, which uses a special visual-processing
chip made by California-based Movidius to recognize obstructions. (Movidius is
yet another neural-network company recently acquired by Intel.)_

Wow, this is just so wrong. The Movidius Myriad chip that's used by DJI is not
an ASIC. It's a programmable vision co-processor. It was not designed for
running neural nets. Movidius is based in Ireland, not California. They are
_not_ a "neural network company".

WTH is a "neural network company" anyway?

~~~
dekhn
The Myriad is an ASIC:
[http://www.movidius.com/technology](http://www.movidius.com/technology)

Myriad was Ireland-founded but is currently based in San Mateo.

They really meant "machine learning company" not "neural network". But the
other two facts are correct.

------
bryanrasmussen
Why would I not expect a greater version of a spreading technology that
developers and companies have a great interest in?

I mean telling me to expect it is akin to saying expect the economic realities
that have affected the spread of every technology heretofore will continue to
work as they have in the past. To which I reply - will do.

------
devoply
I look forward to learned models as a service. Which you can then script to do
more intelligent things. This stuff is too low level for me. In fact that's a
great idea for a startup. Learned models as a service via an API.

~~~
skewart
I've thought about that too. I could imagine a near future where people build
models and sell access to them in a marketplace, either for direct use or
transfer learning - sort of like breeding farm animals. Perhaps in five to ten
years neural net farming, or learning agent husbandry, will be common ways for
people to earn a living.

~~~
visarga
Currently, there is a lot of reinventing the wheel. Many models start from
scratch instead of transferring already good results from past models. It
should be easy to plug vision models, audio processing models, behavior models
together, the way we use various libraries in programming.

------
scottlegrand2
NVIDIA's P40 and GTX Titan XP already have 8-bit inference instructions.

