AI glossary · Building and running AI
GPU
A GPU (graphics processing unit) is a chip that runs many calculations at once. Built for graphics, GPUs are now the main hardware for training and running AI.
Also called graphics processing unit, AI chip, compute
In more detail
AI involves huge numbers of simple maths operations that can run in parallel, which is exactly what GPUs are good at. Training a large model can use thousands of them for weeks or months.
Access to GPUs, often called “compute”, is a major cost for AI companies. Phones and laptops increasingly include smaller AI chips called NPUs.
Related terms
NPUAn NPU (neural processing unit) is a chip built to run AI tasks efficiently on phones and laptops, without draining the battery or sending data to the cloud.InferenceInference is when a trained AI model is used to produce an answer, such as a chatbot writing a reply, as opposed to the training stage when it learns.Pre-trainingPre-training is the first, biggest stage of training an AI model, where it learns general patterns from a huge dataset before being adapted for specific uses.Local AILocal AI means running an AI model on your own phone or computer instead of on a company’s servers, so it can work offline and keep your data on your device.
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