Virtual Seminar: The Future of Artificial Intelligence: A 3D Silicon Brain
Kwabena Boahen, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Bioengineering
School of Engineering, and School of Medicine
Stanford University
Investigator, Bio-X Institute and Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
Virtual Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar: The Future of Artificial Intelligence: A 3D Silicon Brain
Sept. 17, 2021
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Archived video
About this Seminar
Artificial intelligence benefited from shrinking transistors and connecting them densely in two dimensions. But the energy cost of signaling now greatly exceeds that of calculating. This relationship reduces the benefits of additional miniaturization. Signaling distance has been reduced by stacking circuits, but stacking reduces surface area for dissipating heat, forcing a 3D processor to operate serially, rather than in parallel. A fundamental solution would exchange binary coding, whereby a signal from a group of two units conveys one bit, for n-ary coding, whereby a signal from a layer of, for example, 1,024 units conveys 10 bits. This sparser and richer code would require exchanging Boolean logic for operators inseparable in time and space. Advances in cortical physiology suggest that this could be achieved with dendritic detectors that weight an input based on when it occurs and where it is received. This could allow a silicon brain to scale like a biological brain in energy and heat––linearly with the number of neurons –– and thus be thermally viable in 3D.
Additional Details
This is a free event hosted by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and co-sponsored by the institute's Center for Human Neuroscience Research. The Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series, which runs annually from September to May, has featured leading biomedical researchers from throughout the country since the program began in 2012. The lectures are also open to all members of the Virginia Tech community including graduate students, undergraduates, faculty, and staff, as well as the public.
You May Also Be Interested In...
-
Home ItemIn Person Seminar: Sustaining Power: Building Energy Networks in Striated Muscles , home
Sept. 22, 2023, 11:00 a.m. | Brian Glancy, Ph.D., Senior Investigator, Muscle Energetics Laboratory, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health | Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Exercise Medicine Research
-
Home ItemMachine Learning and Human Thought - A Modern Frontier , home
Sept. 28, 2023, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Read Montague, Ph.D., Virginia Tech Carilion Vernon Mountcastle Research Professor and Director, Center for Human Neuroscience Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute; Professor, Department of Physics, Virginia Tech College of Science | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture
-
Home ItemIn Person Seminar: Mitochondrial Ion Stress in Neurodegeneration , home
Sept. 29, 2023, 11:00 a.m. | Xinnan Wang, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Neurobiology Research
-
Home ItemIn Person Seminar: Precision Medicine in Cardiac Electrophysiology , home
Oct. 6, 2023, 11:00 a.m. | Jennifer Silva, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology, Director of Pediatric Electrophysiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; Jonathan Silva, Ph.D., Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis; and | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Vascular and Heart Research
-
Home ItemCloudy with a Chance of Science: The Intersection of Wicked Problems, Perception, Communication, and Risk , home
Oct. 19, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | J. Marshall Shepherd, Ph.D., Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geography, Director, UGA Atmospheric Sciences Program, University of Georgia, and Member, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture
-
Home ItemIn Person Seminar: Adolescent Alcohol, Behavioral Flexibility, and Excitatory/Inhibitory Balance in Control Circuitry , home
Oct. 20, 2023, 11:00 a.m. | Charlotte Boettiger, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Behavioral and Integrative Neuroscience Program, Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, UNC School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Health Behaviors Research and the Addiction Recovery Research Center