The Unsung Engine of the AI Revolution
The Unsung Engine of the AI Revolution: How GPUs Transformed Machine Learning The story of artificial intelligence’s explosive progress is often told through algorithms: breakthroughs in deep learning, the rise of transformers, and the clever architectures of neural networks, Lurking beneath every ChatGPT response, every Midjourney image, and every autonomous vehicle’s decision is a piece of hardware that made it all practically possible. While central processing units (CPUs) are the versatile brains of our general-purpose computers, the true heavy lifting of modern AI is done by specialized processors known as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). This isn’t just a minor technical detail; it’s a fundamental shift that unlocked AI’s potential, turning theoretical models into real-world tools at breakneck speed. To understand why, we need to appreciate the core difference between a CPU and a GPU. Think of a CPU as a brilliant, all-purpose scholar. It can tackle any complex task y...