On-device AI transforms IT for the hybrid workforce
Brought to you by Qualcomm Technologies Inc.
Traditionally, laptop performance was measured by the CPU and GPU, but on-device AI processing is now a third critical metric. And this is especially crucial for business PCs, because the challenges of hybrid working crystallize, and the way we use our laptops has fundamentally changed over the past few years. More than ever, advanced computer technology is our most important and effective communication and productivity tool.
Without the right tools to be effective on the job, Gallup found that employees often feel less connected to an organization’s culture, that their experience has hurt collaboration and relationships, and that work processes have often been disrupted. This is especially true for PCs without AI capabilities, which suffer from blurry noise and video quality, multiple distractions, insecure privacy, unstable connectivity, and short battery life. battery life.
“Having high-performance on-device AI processing alongside the CPU and GPU is crucial for enterprise users,” said Kedar Kondap, SVP and GM, Compute and Gaming at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today, productivity demands more: faster, smarter, more reliable connectivity, higher quality cameras and crisp, clear sound, to power vital human-to-human interaction. It requires advanced security tools and it thrives with dedicated AI processing to power natural interactions with incredible power efficiency.
If the consumer is mobile, the device must be smart enough to manage the power supply for each individual user; on each platform, it must understand user preferences through on-device learning.
“Our vision is to drive the convergence of mobile and PC, bringing the best of smartphones to your laptop,” Kondap says. “That means enhanced software, custom hardware, unprecedented connectivity, and broad ecosystem support.”
Powering Hybrid Work with AI
AI-enabled PCs meet the challenge facing businesses. They deliver premium performance, multi-day battery life, and fast 5G connectivity to help increase productivity, collaboration, and security. Qualcomm Technologies itself has partnered with major PC OEMs to release multiple generations of Snapdragon compute-powered laptops in thin and light designs.
Here’s a look at how AI features improve the work of hybrid employees:
Improved and more natural video conferencing. Video quality in video conferencing has been a long-standing challenge for the industry, but now it’s become a crisis. Millions of people turn on their cameras and microphones every day across multiple apps, from Discord and Google Meet to Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom and more. A recent study showed that 75% of people judge their colleagues based on their audio quality in meetings, while 73% judge based on video quality.
Noise suppression, background blur, auto-framing and gaze correction are game changers for video conferencing. Qualcomm and Microsoft have collaborated on Snapdragon to enable these new AI-accelerated experiences for Windows 11, without affecting performance and power efficiency. Snapdragon intelligently offloads these compute-intensive tasks to a dedicated AI engine, which frees up CPU and GPU resources.
Ultra-fast connectivity. A PC that uses multiple radio bands and AI can take full advantage of them for video conferencing, aggregating wireless connections and achieving a level of performance close to optical cable. Redundancy means that if most connections fail, video will continue without interrupting the call. Not only will future PCs be able to connect to multiple Wi-Fi 6 connections, but also 5G simultaneously.
Advanced security and privacy. Artificial intelligence is powering new remote device management protocols, zero-touch deployments, and advanced endpoint security as much of the workforce is no longer on-site. AI in PCs can also use Wi-Fi as a proximity sensor to better secure PC privacy. The PC can wake up when it detects a seated user, and suspend and secure the PC when the user leaves their desk.
More power for intensive computing tasks. Adding on-device AI processing to the powerful CPU and GPU capabilities adds the ability to offload compute-intensive processes. Performance is dramatically increased, providing a higher level of user experience. Snapdragon Compute Platforms Deliver the Best AI-Accelerated User Experiences to Achieve a New Level of Mobile Computing Performance: Pre-Released Procyon AI Inference Benchmark Results Show Hexagon AI Processor Scores up to 5 times faster than competitor’s processor and up to 2.5 times faster than the competitor’s GPU.
Energy saving and efficiency. Traditional x86-based systems rely primarily on the CPU and GPU for computationally intensive modeling. By leveraging the dedicated AI engine, Snapdragon delivers all of these experiences on the AI engine while freeing up CPU and GPU resources and optimizing for long battery life.
Tools to improve productivity and drive innovation. The application ecosystem is the cornerstone of the end user experience. As apps are optimized for Snapdragon, developers can begin to take advantage of on-device AI and gain access to new ways to personalize the user experience. For example, when a user is editing photos, the creative app will be able to automatically make adjustments that enhance the image, or when writing a document, it can automatically fill in the end of sentences.
To ensure apps are able to take advantage of the computing Qualcomm has to offer, including new smart capabilities, the company provides templates to third-party app developers and works with them to ensure that are optimized for performance and able to take advantage of on-device AI to enhance the end-user experience. Qualcomm and Microsoft offer tools like the Windows 2023 SDK to third-party app developers to optimize apps for Windows on Snapdragon.
For example, Adobe used the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 SDK to ensure its Creative Suite uses dedicated AI processing capabilities for more personalized and intuitive experiences associated with Adobe Sensei. And Adobe’s Qualcomm partners are at the forefront of using AI to help creators. Later in 2023, major Adobe Creative Cloud apps will become native for Windows on Snapdragon.
Next-gen AI capabilities for business PCs
This is only the beginning. Chip developers are integrating AI capabilities that will become more ubiquitous in PCs, allowing users to conduct the kind of generative AI that has emerged, performing tasks such as automatically writing essays from outlines or creating unique images via text prompt.
“Companies need the right compute to run the experiments that power their workforce, which is what we emphasize when we say on-device AI is the third crucial metric,” Kondap says. “We are building the software applications that can take advantage of AI and working with strategic partners that can take advantage of the on-device silicon we have. Our vision is to optimize the consumer experience, improve software, hardware, connectivity and more, so that there are no barriers between users and their aspirations.
Learn more here about how on-device AI is transforming what business people can accomplish.
Sponsored posts are content produced by a company that either pays for publication or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they are always clearly marked. For more information, contact [email protected]
On-device AI transforms IT for the hybrid workforce
