The Institute of Computing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions used AI technology to design the world's first fully automatic CPU chip without human intervention - Enlightenment 1. The paper was published on June 27. Paper title: "Pushing the Limits of Machine Design: Automated CPU Design with AI"
Link to the paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.12456.pdf
The paper details the researchers' work designing a new industrial-grade RISC-V CPU in 5 hours. This feat of AI automation is claimed to be about 1,000 times faster than a human team completing a CPU-like design. This fully AI-designed 32-bit RISC-V CPU is 4,000 times larger than the current GPT-4 circuit, and the performance is comparable to the Intel 80486SX CPU.
The Chinese team's goal is to answer the question of whether machines can design chips like humans. The team believes that early AI designs were relatively small or limited in scope. So, to test the boundaries of AI design, the researchers thought they would try to have AI automatically design RISC-V CPU.
Such projects typically start with a period of machine learning. Training involves observing a series of CPU inputs and outputs. The design of the CPU comes only from the observation of external input and output, not formal program code. The scientists generated a binary speculation graph (BSD) from these I/Os and used the principles of Monte Carlo-based extensions and Boolean functions to improve the accuracy and efficiency of AI-based CPU designs. Thus, the scientists explain, CPU designs are formed "based solely on external input-output observations rather than formal program code." It also boasts an impressive 99.99999999999% accuracy.
Using the above process, an automated AI design for the CPU was created. The tape-out RISC-V32IA instruction set CPUs are manufactured at 65nm and run at frequencies up to 300 MHz. Running the Linux (kernel 5.15) operating system and SPEC CINT 2000 on an AI-generated CPU verified its functionality. In the Drystone benchmark, the performance of the AI-generated CPU is comparable to that of the i486. Interestingly, in the same test, it appeared to be a little faster than the Acorn Archimedes A3010.
While some may dismiss the performance of AI-generated CPUs, scientists also seem quite proud that their generated BSD discovered the von Neumann architecture from scratch."
Building a new RISC-V CPU from scratch using artificial intelligence is not just an academic interest, but also has potential uses to build a new CPU from scratch. According to the researchers, AI could be used to significantly reduce the design and optimization cycles of the existing semiconductor industry. Moreover, in their conclusions, the scientists are even wondering whether the research might further form the basis for a self-evolving machine.