Scott Bair is a key voice at Intel Labs, sharing insights into innovative research for inventing tomorrow’s technology.
Highlights:
- Intel Labs had a strong presence at many conferences this year as researchers presented advancements in database research, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and deep learning, among many others.
- Intel Labs’ top stories of 2023 cover the release of the Intel® Quantum Software Development Kit and Intel’s newest quantum research chip, Intel’s Outstanding Researcher Awards; advancements in neural networks, federated learning, generative AI, and BridgeTower on the Intel® Gaudi® 2 AI accelerator; contributions at Intel® Innovation and NeurIPS; and key Intel Labs technologies included in the Intel® Core™ Ultra mobile processor and the 5th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor.
Intel Labs researchers had a busy year in 2023 as they presented contributions in database research, artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, and deep learning, among many others, at various conferences around the world. Additionally, at this year’s Intel® Innovation conference, Intel Labs proudly presented the Advanced Technology track, which covered the latest advancements and solutions in areas such as AI, quantum computing, integrated photonics, machine learning, Private 5G, and more.
Other exciting developments throughout the year included the release of the Intel® Quantum Software Development Kit as well as Tunnel Falls, Intel’s newest quantum research chip. Intel was also pleased to recognize the outstanding work of seven leading academic researchers through its Outstanding Researcher Awards.
These works only provide a small glimpse into Intel Labs’ efforts this year. Although 2023 was filled with numerous breakthroughs and technological advancements, a few accomplishments stood out. Continue reading below for a brief description of Intel Labs’ top 10 stories for 2023
Intel Labs' Top Stories of 2023 (in order of publication).
Intel Releases Quantum Software Development Kit Version 1.0 to Grow Developer Ecosystem
After launching its beta version in September 2022, Intel released version 1.0 of the Intel® Quantum Software Development Kit (SDK). The SDK is a full quantum computer in simulation that can also interface with Intel’s quantum hardware, including Intel’s Horse Ridge II control chip and Intel’s quantum spin qubit chip when it becomes available this year. The kit allows developers to program quantum algorithms in simulation, and it features an intuitive programming interface written in C++ using an industry-standard low-level virtual machine (LLVM) compiler toolchain. As a result, Intel’s SDK offers seamless interfacing with C/C++ and Python applications, making it more versatile and customizable.
Deep learning with Spiking Neural Networks
Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are used for a wide variety of tasks ranging from artificial intelligence, image processing, natural language processing, video compression, autonomous driving, drug discovery, and many more. With the recent progress of dedicated accelerators for ANNs combined with the explosion of data, the industry can now deploy incredibly powerful deep learning systems specific to each application domain. These models also consume a huge amount of power for both inference and training. In this blog, Sumit Bam Shrestha both introduces Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) - a radically more efficient evolution of ANNs - and explains how deep learning with SNNs works. This approach can enable many valuable applications for industrial systems while dramatically cutting energy usage.
Intel's Transition of OpenFL Primes Growth of Confidential AI
Intel announced that the LF AI & Data Foundation Technical Advisory Council accepted Open Federated Learning (OpenFL) as an incubation project to further drive collaboration, standardization and interoperability. OpenFL is an open-source framework for a type of distributed AI referred to as federated learning (FL) that incorporates privacy-preserving features called confidential computing. It was developed and hosted by Intel to help data scientists address the challenge of maintaining data privacy while bringing together insights from many disparate, confidential or regulated data sets.
Seven Academic Researchers Receive Intel's 2022 Outstanding Researcher Awards
Intel has recognized seven leading academic researchers with 2022 Outstanding Researcher Awards (ORAs). The annual award program recognizes exceptional contributions made through Intel university-sponsored research to help further Intel’s mission of creating world-changing technology to improve daily life. With projects such as optimizing spin to charge conversion in magneto-electric spin orbit devices for building transistors, to addressing vulnerabilities in authenticated encryption, to developing digital twins for streamlining semiconductor manufacturing processes, these Intel-sponsored research collaborations are advancing today's computing into future technologies.
Intel’s 2022 Outstanding Researcher Award winners from left to right, top row: Ramesh Karri and Gregory Parsons. Middle row: Giulia Pedrielli, Borivoje Nikolic, and Joan Daemen. Bottom row: Giovanni Maria Farinella and Felix Casanova.
Intel’s New Chip to Advance Silicon Spin Qubit Research for Quantum Computing
Intel announced the release of its newest quantum research chip, Tunnel Falls, a 12-qubit silicon chip, and it is making the chip available to the quantum research community. In addition, Intel is collaborating with the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (LPS) at the University of Maryland, College Park’s Qubit Collaboratory (LQC), a national-level Quantum Information Sciences (QIS) Research Center, to advance quantum computing research.
Intel Labs Introduces AI Diffusion Model, Generates 360-Degree Images from Text Prompts
Intel Labs, in collaboration with Blockade Labs, introduced Latent Diffusion Model for 3D (LDM3D), a novel diffusion model that uses generative AI to create realistic 3D visual content. LDM3D is the industry’s first model to generate a depth map using the diffusion process to create 3D images with 360-degree views that are vivid and immersive. LDM3D has the potential to revolutionize content creation, metaverse applications and digital experiences, transforming a wide range of industries, from entertainment and gaming to architecture and design.
Accelerating Vision-Language Models: BridgeTower on Habana Gaudi2
In the recent past, Vision-Language (VL) models have gained tremendous importance and shown dominance in a variety of VL tasks. Most common approaches leverage uni-modal encoders to extract representations from their respective modalities. Then those representations are either fused together, or fed into a cross-modal encoder. To efficiently handle some of the performance limitations and restrictions in VL representation learning, BridgeTower introduces multiple bridge layers that build a connection between the top layers of uni-modal encoders and each layer of the cross-modal encoder. This enables effective bottom-up cross-modal alignment and fusion between visual and textual representations at different semantic levels in the cross-modal encoder.
Intel Labs at Intel® Innovation 2023
The 2023 Intel® Innovation conference provided a platform for researchers to engage with peers and learn from the brightest minds in the industry about how to utilize some of the latest hardware and software breakthroughs to speed development, drive innovation, and help hone your competitive edge. Additionally, Intel’s executive leadership and special guests outlined the latest advancements in computing, offered a roadmap for the future of the industry, and unveiled the latest developer solutions to unleash the next wave of innovative technology.
Intel Labs Presents 31 Papers at NeurIPS 2023
This year, Intel Labs presented 31 papers at NeurIPS, including 12 at the main conference.
Intel Labs’ research contributions included training encoding models that can transfer across fMRI responses to stories and movies, a scalable framework for automatic generation of counterfactual examples using text-to-image diffusion models, and the first learning-based method for event-to-point cloud registration.
Intel Labs Contributes Key Technologies to New Intel Core Ultra and Intel Xeon Scalable Processors
Intel Labs contributed technologies to Intel’s newly introduced Intel® Core™ Ultra mobile processor and the 5th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor, adding to the overall improvements in performance, power efficiency, isolation and security, and mitigation against side-channel attacks. The Intel Core Ultra mobile processor will deliver reimagined power efficiency, leading performance, and new artificial intelligence (AI) PC experiences. Meanwhile, the 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor delivers more compute and faster memory at the same thermal design power (TDP) as the previous generation.
Scott Bair is a Senior Technical Creative Director for Intel Labs, chartered with growing awareness for Intel’s leading-edge research activities, like AI, Neuromorphic Computing and Quantum Computing. Scott is responsible for driving marketing strategy, messaging, and asset creation for Intel Labs and its joint-research activities. In addition to his work at Intel, he has a passion for audio technology and is an active father of 5 children.
Scott has over 23 years of experience in the computing industry bringing new products and technology to market. During his 15 years at Intel, he has worked in a variety of roles from R&D, architecture, strategic planning, product marketing, and technology evangelism. Scott has an undergraduate degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration from Brigham Young University.