‘The applications are big and they will get bigger’: The Hardware That Fuels the AI Revolution

How can scientists use AI in future research projects? And which technology keeps AI running? In the event The Hardware That Fuels the AI Revolution the role of hardware in AI is put front and center: from graphic processing units (GPU’s) to high performance computing (HPC). The event takes place on 8 April at the House of Connections is co-organised by the CIT and the Jantina Tammes School of Digital Society, Technology and AI.

Increasingly, AI is used in interdiscplinary ways. While it started with modelling things such as molecules or medical images, nowadays it is also used in alpha- and gamma disciplines. Wim Nap, programme director HPC and co-organiser of the event, adds: ‘There are, for instance, a lot of archaeologists who use AI and literary scholars have been using it for years. These applications are big and they are becoming even bigger. Everywhere where there is a creative process in some way, you will be able to use AI.’ There are more and more scientific areas in which the same data is analysed from different disciplines, as it is now possible to discover more about this data. Because of this, it is incredibly important for these researchers to meet and learn from each other.

Besides, the application of AI within the university is becoming broader as well. Generative AI, for instance, can serve three different purposes within the university. Most often it is created in order to assist in research, but nowadays it is also used in businesses and education. Especially in a context of budget cuts on the academic world, it is incredibly important to utilize all these different aspects of generative AI. Nap emphasizes that the role of his co-organisor, Dirk pleiter, has a large influence in this regard: ‘For the university it is incredibly important that a professor in high tech computing exists, because his field comes back in the colloquia of a lot of other scientific areas.’

The opening of the event The Hardware That Fuels the AI Revolution is done by Nolda Tipping-Griffioen, director of the CIT and Chief Information Officer of the UG. In the key note presentation, HPC professor Dirk Pleiter takes the audience through the past developments and those that are currently happening with regard to the technology of AI.  

Thereafter, HPC project manager Wim Nap will talk about the AI infrastructure that the CIT supplies to researchers at the UG. He will discuss how this has been done in the past, what is on offer now, and how this will develop in the future. In what ways does the infrastructure within the UG position itself in regards to the ecosystem of HPC and AI in the Netherlands and in Europe? What choices do other institutes make and how does that relate to the policy of the UG?

In break-out sessions, there will be an interactive discussion about several technological developments. Jacob van Dijk, the founder of the ILSE-Lab at Dell, will explore the concept of a decentralised AI-factory, while Huib Hansma of Dell will share insights in emerging technologies. Furthermore, CogniGron will talk about their research and the HPC cluster shall demonstrate different hardware.

The event will close with network drinks, where there is room to meet new people who also work with AI technology. The Hardware That Fuels the AI Revolution will take place on Tuesday 8 April 2025 from 15:00 to 17:45 in the House of Connections. Registration is possible through the website of the Jantina Tammes School of Digital Society, Technology and AI.