December 21, 2021 – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) established the AI innovation incubator (AI3), a collaborative hub aimed at bringing together artificial intelligence (AI) experts from LLNL, industry and academia to advance AI for large-scale scientific and commercial applications.
LLNL has entered into a new Memorandum of Understanding with Google, IBM and NVIDIA, with plans to use the incubator to facilitate discussions and form future collaborations around hardware, software, tools and utilities to accelerate AI for applied science. In addition, several existing projects will fall under the umbrella of AI3, including further work with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) to demonstrate the power of AI and high performance computing (HPC) on the future exascale system El Capitan. This project focuses on innovative projects, focused on AI cognitive simulation and design optimization methods at unprecedented scales to design novel approaches to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments at the National Ignition Facility.
Other ongoing projects with AI accelerators / IT companies SambaNova Systems and Brain Systems and precision movement company Aerotech, Inc. will be further developed thanks to AI3. More companies, universities and leaders in the field of AI are encouraged to consider joining IA3, where the first areas of research are expected to include advanced materials design, 3D printing, predictive biology, energy systems, “self-propelled” lasers and fusion energy research.
“We want this incubator to be a place where industry, academia and the laboratory can come together, generate ideas, develop projects and develop a common vision,” said Brian Spears, director of AI3 and LLNL physicist. “It’s about bringing together smart people with diverse perspectives to work on meaningful issues in a way that no one else can. AI is such a rapidly evolving field that having these hubs as a vehicle to quickly implant the most important and exciting new ideas from outside the lab to the inside – and back again – is of importance. vital.
AI3 will serve as the basis for a coherent vision of AI for the applied sciences, based on LLNL’s cognitive simulation approach that combines cutting-edge AI technologies with cutting-edge HPC. The approach prompted improvements in models for the ICF, predictive biology, advanced manufacturing and other areas.
The Incubator will provide an infrastructure for the Lab’s AI activities, both internally and externally. Progress made with AI3 will fuel the national security enterprise and strengthen LLNL’s core missions. The hub is intended to stimulate new partnerships and enable LLNL, industry and universities to apply revolutionary AI methods, hardware and software to important scientific problems.
“We are delighted to collaborate on this technical research with responsible innovation in mind,” said Rif A. Saurous, research director at Google Research. “We will bring Google’s deep expertise in machine learning and high performance computing to help accelerate scientific advancements. “
“IBM is thrilled to participate with LLNL at AI3,” said James Sexton, director of IBM Future of Computing Systems. “The integration of AI with traditional methods of high performance computing and data analysis that is at the center of AI3 will generate fundamentally new and transformative knowledge-based computational capabilities for analysis, reasoning and decision making. “
“Today’s biggest scientific challenges require a new approach, an approach that combines the latest advances in AI with traditional scientific computing methods,” said Paresh Kharya, senior director of Acceleration of the computing at NVIDIA. “NVIDIA looks forward to working with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other members of AI3 to accelerate scientific research that can have a huge impact on our lives today and in the years to come.”
LLNL plans projects developed through AI3 to include advanced AI and statistical tools to improve predictive models for various scientific applications; apply molecular design methods used in drug discovery to the development of new classes of materials; coupling computer hardware with simulation to enable autonomous scientific facilities capable of making autonomous experimental decisions; and the pursuit of advanced AI methods to create detailed computer models of 3D printing and advanced manufacturing processes.
Through existing and future projects, members of LLNL and AI3 also plan to develop and democratize large datasets to share with the wider scientific community and create open benchmarks to run on some of the fastest supercomputers. of the world, testing the limits and potential of AI at the largest scale of science and technology.
The AI3 management team will be responsible for establishing and executing the strategic direction of the Incubator, soliciting and selecting collaborative projects and forging external partnerships. The multidisciplinary team currently consists of AI leaders from across the lab, including Spears, LLNL deputy deputy director of IT, Jim Brase, IT group leader Brian Van Essen, group leader Michael Schneider. and Michael Goldman, director of the Data Science Institute (DSI) at LLNL. . The incubator will grow, diversify and strengthen its leadership team over the coming months to ensure that all levels of perspectives and actions are captured and represented.
Over the next three years, AI3 management intends to expand existing collaborations and form new ones, publish applied science datasets and references and spin-out projects from the incubator for the benefit of the programmatic areas of the laboratory, the scientific community and the world. To help achieve these goals, AI3 will partner closely with DSI to leverage their respective businesses and form a synergistic union to help advance LLNL’s AI strategic vision.
AI3 will also power DSI by providing unique opportunities to align its education, community outreach and workforce reserve activities. Likewise, these DSI activities will provide the necessary foundations to promote the visibility and available opportunities of IA3, as well as to support selected collaborative pole projects and partnerships.
To learn more about the AI Innovation Incubator, visit website.
Source: Jeremy Thomas, LLNL
