Computers are switching from electricity back to light
Inventions
Engineers are abandoning traditional silicon chips for light-based processors to eliminate the massive energy drain required to train modern artificial intelligence models.
The greatest hurdle for modern artificial intelligence isn't the complexity of the code, but a physical traffic jam. Current computers process data using electricity but move it across networks using light, requiring a constant, power-hungry conversion process that generates immense heat. To break this bottleneck, researchers at the Pisa-based firm CamGraPhIC are developing processors that skip the electricity entirely. By using light to both calculate and transmit data, these photonic chips can handle massive datasets with virtually zero delay.