摘要
Computers already gobble a large share of the world’s electrical power,and their energy demand will likely soar with the deployment of more and more power-hungry artificial intelligence(AI)systems[1].In a step that might reduce AI’s electricity use and environmental impact,Lightmatter,a startup based in Boston,MA,USA,announced that it has developed a microchip that performs calculations with light and requires about one-sixth the energy of a comparable electronic chip(Fig.1)[2].Other companies are developing similar photon-based chips for AI and for many other uses,including self-driving cars and quantum computing[3,4].
