AI comes down from the cloud as chips get smarter [Video]

Artificial intelligence is moving from data centers to “the edge” as computer makers build the technology into laptops, robots, cars and more devices closer to home.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) gadget extravaganza closing Friday was rife with PCs and other devices touting AI chips, making them more capable than ever and untethering them from the cloud.

Attention-grabbing stars included “AI PCs,” personal computers boasting chips that promised a level of performance once limited to muscular data centers.

“Whatever was running in the cloud last year is running on the edge this year,” Kamesh Medapalli, senior vice president of innovation and technology at Infineon Technologies, told AFP.

“The pattern is already there and will only accelerate; the opportunity is huge on the edge.”

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang got a celebrity reception at CES, where he announced a ramped-up line of graphics processing units (GPUs) that imbue PCs with AI …