You're right, it won't be a general purpose computing device the way we conceive of it with the von Neumon architecture.
It'll likely be hardware that can be generalized to run any kind of deep net. The iPhone 5S is already capable of running some deep nets.
As a friend mentioned, it isn't the running of the net, it's the training that takes a lot more computational power (leaving aside data normalization). A handheld device that is not only capable of running a deep net, but also training one -- yeah, that will be the day.
There are non von Neuman architectures that are capable of this. Someone had figured out how to build general-purpose CPUs on silicon made for memory. You can shrink down a full rack of computers down into a single mother board, and use less wattage while you are at it.
This really isn't about having a phone be able to beat a Go player. Go is a transformative game that, when learned, it teaches the player how to think strategically. There is value for a human to learn Go, but this is no longer about being able to be the best player in the absolute sense. Go will undergo the same transformation that martial arts in China and Japan has gone through with the proliferation and use of guns in warfare.
Rather, what we're really talking about is a shot at having AIs do things that we never thought they could do -- handle ambiguity. What I think we will see is -- not the replacement of blue collar workers by robots -- but the replacement of white collar workers by deep nets. Coupled with the problems in the US educational system (optimizing towards passing tests rather than critical thinking, handling ambiguity, and making decisions in face of uncertainty), we're on a verge of some very interesting times.
It'll likely be hardware that can be generalized to run any kind of deep net. The iPhone 5S is already capable of running some deep nets.
As a friend mentioned, it isn't the running of the net, it's the training that takes a lot more computational power (leaving aside data normalization). A handheld device that is not only capable of running a deep net, but also training one -- yeah, that will be the day.
There are non von Neuman architectures that are capable of this. Someone had figured out how to build general-purpose CPUs on silicon made for memory. You can shrink down a full rack of computers down into a single mother board, and use less wattage while you are at it.
This really isn't about having a phone be able to beat a Go player. Go is a transformative game that, when learned, it teaches the player how to think strategically. There is value for a human to learn Go, but this is no longer about being able to be the best player in the absolute sense. Go will undergo the same transformation that martial arts in China and Japan has gone through with the proliferation and use of guns in warfare.
Rather, what we're really talking about is a shot at having AIs do things that we never thought they could do -- handle ambiguity. What I think we will see is -- not the replacement of blue collar workers by robots -- but the replacement of white collar workers by deep nets. Coupled with the problems in the US educational system (optimizing towards passing tests rather than critical thinking, handling ambiguity, and making decisions in face of uncertainty), we're on a verge of some very interesting times.