
英偉達(dá)(Nvidia)通過(guò)銷售為生成式人工智能淘金熱提供動(dòng)力的鎬和鏟,賺取了數(shù)十億美元。對(duì)英偉達(dá)專用芯片圖形處理器(GPU)的需求激增,使該公司股價(jià)在兩年內(nèi)飆升近11倍。
然而,英偉達(dá)深知,僅憑銷售價(jià)值數(shù)萬(wàn)美元的圖形處理器來(lái)搭乘當(dāng)前的人工智能熱潮并非長(zhǎng)久之計(jì)。英偉達(dá)必須成為推動(dòng)下一波人工智能浪潮的關(guān)鍵力量。
英偉達(dá)首席執(zhí)行官黃仁勛周一深入闡述了這一戰(zhàn)略,將其歸結(jié)為抓住即將到來(lái)的“機(jī)器人領(lǐng)域ChatGPT時(shí)刻”(OpenAI的熱門人工智能助手ChatGPT引領(lǐng)了當(dāng)前人工智能熱潮)。在拉斯維加斯舉行的國(guó)際消費(fèi)電子展(CES)上,他推出了一款名為Cosmos的人工智能平臺(tái),該平臺(tái)搭載了由2000萬(wàn)小時(shí)真實(shí)機(jī)器人和駕駛視頻訓(xùn)練的生成式人工智能模型。這些模型專為與英偉達(dá)的仿真技術(shù)協(xié)同工作而設(shè)計(jì),旨在推動(dòng)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車和機(jī)器人等物理人工智能系統(tǒng)取得突破性進(jìn)展。
開(kāi)發(fā)人員能夠借助Cosmos平臺(tái)來(lái)生成高度仿真的、基于物理的合成數(shù)據(jù),本質(zhì)上是創(chuàng)建逼真的虛擬環(huán)境來(lái)訓(xùn)練和測(cè)試他們的系統(tǒng),而無(wú)需收集大量真實(shí)世界的數(shù)據(jù)。眾所周知,訓(xùn)練這些系統(tǒng)需要大量難以獲取的數(shù)據(jù),比如人形機(jī)器人執(zhí)行各種可能動(dòng)作的視頻,或難以重現(xiàn)的自動(dòng)駕駛場(chǎng)景,如雪地道路和交通事故,因此創(chuàng)建用于訓(xùn)練這些系統(tǒng)的數(shù)據(jù)集一直是個(gè)難題。由Cosmos和英偉達(dá)的Omniverse仿真技術(shù)生成的視頻可以顯示機(jī)器人可能采取的所有路徑,助力其選擇最優(yōu)且最精準(zhǔn)的動(dòng)作。英偉達(dá)仿真技術(shù)副總裁雷夫·勒巴雷迪安(Rev Lebaredian)向《財(cái)富》雜志表示:“對(duì)于那些需要整理數(shù)億小時(shí)數(shù)據(jù)的自動(dòng)駕駛汽車和機(jī)器人公司而言,這無(wú)疑會(huì)改變游戲規(guī)則?!?/p>
Cosmos周一在廣受歡迎的Hugging Face社區(qū)上以開(kāi)源形式發(fā)布。
英偉達(dá)表示,許多頂級(jí)機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)駕駛汽車公司已成為其Cosmos平臺(tái)的早期采用者,包括優(yōu)步(Uber),F(xiàn)igure和Agility Robotics等熱門機(jī)器人初創(chuàng)公司,以及加拿大無(wú)人駕駛卡車初創(chuàng)公司W(wǎng)aabi和總部位于倫敦的自動(dòng)駕駛技術(shù)公司W(wǎng)ayve等資金雄厚的公司。為了消除潛在客戶對(duì)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的擔(dān)憂,勒巴雷迪安強(qiáng)調(diào),英偉達(dá)沒(méi)有銷售自己的機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)駕駛汽車的計(jì)劃。他說(shuō):“英偉達(dá)的目標(biāo)并非制造機(jī)器人,而是致力于提供[其他公司]制造機(jī)器人所需的計(jì)算機(jī)、工具和技術(shù)?!?/p>
當(dāng)然,英偉達(dá)將繼續(xù)銷售圖形處理器和軟件,以滿足OpenAI、Meta、谷歌(Google)、Anthropic、微軟(Microsoft)、亞馬遜(Amazon)和埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk)旗下的X公司在持續(xù)進(jìn)行的人工智能主導(dǎo)權(quán)爭(zhēng)奪戰(zhàn)中對(duì)算力的需求。這一新戰(zhàn)略的核心在于推動(dòng)英偉達(dá)未來(lái)的持續(xù)增長(zhǎng),并為該公司已經(jīng)飆升的股價(jià)增添新動(dòng)力。周一,英偉達(dá)的股價(jià)接近149.43美元的歷史高點(diǎn)。
研究公司Futurum Group的首席執(zhí)行官丹尼爾·紐曼(Daniel Newman)表示,英偉達(dá)在國(guó)際消費(fèi)電子展上發(fā)布的Cosmos平臺(tái)以及其他產(chǎn)品有望為該公司帶來(lái)巨大收益。他稱Cosmos平臺(tái)是客戶開(kāi)發(fā)下一代機(jī)器人,尤其是人形機(jī)器人的“關(guān)鍵賦能者”,并表示“未來(lái)十年,這一領(lǐng)域?qū)⒂袃r(jià)值數(shù)萬(wàn)億美元的市場(chǎng)機(jī)遇”。
勒巴雷迪安表示,英偉達(dá)在過(guò)去十年通過(guò)開(kāi)發(fā)涵蓋人工智能軟件、硬件、機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)駕駛汽車模擬計(jì)算機(jī)的生態(tài)系統(tǒng),為Cosmos平臺(tái)的問(wèn)世奠定了基礎(chǔ)。他指出,如今的變化在于這一新市場(chǎng)終于要騰飛了。勒巴雷迪安說(shuō):“我們相信,如果這個(gè)市場(chǎng)存在,我們將從中受益。為了讓它存在,我們需要為生態(tài)系統(tǒng)提供所有工具,并為其創(chuàng)造啟動(dòng)契機(jī)?!?
這已成為英偉達(dá)一貫秉持的策略,分析人士認(rèn)為這正是英偉達(dá)在過(guò)去三十年里能夠崛起的核心要素。長(zhǎng)期以來(lái),該公司始終強(qiáng)調(diào),它并非如許多人所認(rèn)為的那樣,僅僅是一家芯片公司,甚至也不僅僅是一家硬件制造商。相反,英偉達(dá)將自己定位為一家專注于“加速計(jì)算”的公司,致力于研發(fā)軟件及相關(guān)技術(shù)以吸引開(kāi)發(fā)者。
2007年,英偉達(dá)開(kāi)發(fā)了CUDA軟件,使研究人員能夠更輕松地使用該公司的圖形處理器。英偉達(dá)公司內(nèi)外的專家都表示,此舉推動(dòng)了2010年代早期的人工智能和深度學(xué)習(xí)革命。2019年,英偉達(dá)首次推出了開(kāi)源人工智能系統(tǒng)Megatron。該系統(tǒng)通過(guò)展示訓(xùn)練大規(guī)模模型的技術(shù),并對(duì)諸如ChatGPT底層架構(gòu)等人工智能領(lǐng)域的進(jìn)展產(chǎn)生影響,為包括OpenAI在內(nèi)的公司在大型語(yǔ)言模型研發(fā)方面取得突破做出貢獻(xiàn)。如果沒(méi)有Megatron,“我們或許至今仍未能迎來(lái)ChatGPT時(shí)刻,”勒巴雷迪安說(shuō)。
勒巴雷迪安補(bǔ)充說(shuō),Cosmos平臺(tái)的出現(xiàn)正值其他公司開(kāi)始在工廠、倉(cāng)庫(kù)和街道上部署機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)駕駛汽車車隊(duì)的時(shí)刻,或者說(shuō)“拐點(diǎn)”。不過(guò),該平臺(tái)還有很長(zhǎng)的路要走:他解釋說(shuō),要全面“理解”現(xiàn)實(shí)世界的方方面面,還需構(gòu)建一個(gè)強(qiáng)大得多的平臺(tái)。
當(dāng)然,勒巴雷迪安還表示,圖形處理器仍是英偉達(dá)的王牌,至少在現(xiàn)階段是如此。他說(shuō):“與我們目前的數(shù)據(jù)中心銷售相比,一切都顯得微不足道?!?/p>
然而,機(jī)器人領(lǐng)域的“ChatGPT時(shí)刻”能否惠及包括英偉達(dá)在內(nèi)的整個(gè)行業(yè),還有待觀察。幸運(yùn)的是,對(duì)于英偉達(dá)而言,即便礦工們從未真正挖到金子,僅僅是出售鎬和鏟也能讓英偉達(dá)獲利,紐曼說(shuō):“正如生成式人工智能在硬件之外的盈利模式尚不明朗一樣,但無(wú)論如何,英偉達(dá)都能從中獲益?!保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
英偉達(dá)(Nvidia)通過(guò)銷售為生成式人工智能淘金熱提供動(dòng)力的鎬和鏟,賺取了數(shù)十億美元。對(duì)英偉達(dá)專用芯片圖形處理器(GPU)的需求激增,使該公司股價(jià)在兩年內(nèi)飆升近11倍。
然而,英偉達(dá)深知,僅憑銷售價(jià)值數(shù)萬(wàn)美元的圖形處理器來(lái)搭乘當(dāng)前的人工智能熱潮并非長(zhǎng)久之計(jì)。英偉達(dá)必須成為推動(dòng)下一波人工智能浪潮的關(guān)鍵力量。
英偉達(dá)首席執(zhí)行官黃仁勛周一深入闡述了這一戰(zhàn)略,將其歸結(jié)為抓住即將到來(lái)的“機(jī)器人領(lǐng)域ChatGPT時(shí)刻”(OpenAI的熱門人工智能助手ChatGPT引領(lǐng)了當(dāng)前人工智能熱潮)。在拉斯維加斯舉行的國(guó)際消費(fèi)電子展(CES)上,他推出了一款名為Cosmos的人工智能平臺(tái),該平臺(tái)搭載了由2000萬(wàn)小時(shí)真實(shí)機(jī)器人和駕駛視頻訓(xùn)練的生成式人工智能模型。這些模型專為與英偉達(dá)的仿真技術(shù)協(xié)同工作而設(shè)計(jì),旨在推動(dòng)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車和機(jī)器人等物理人工智能系統(tǒng)取得突破性進(jìn)展。
開(kāi)發(fā)人員能夠借助Cosmos平臺(tái)來(lái)生成高度仿真的、基于物理的合成數(shù)據(jù),本質(zhì)上是創(chuàng)建逼真的虛擬環(huán)境來(lái)訓(xùn)練和測(cè)試他們的系統(tǒng),而無(wú)需收集大量真實(shí)世界的數(shù)據(jù)。眾所周知,訓(xùn)練這些系統(tǒng)需要大量難以獲取的數(shù)據(jù),比如人形機(jī)器人執(zhí)行各種可能動(dòng)作的視頻,或難以重現(xiàn)的自動(dòng)駕駛場(chǎng)景,如雪地道路和交通事故,因此創(chuàng)建用于訓(xùn)練這些系統(tǒng)的數(shù)據(jù)集一直是個(gè)難題。由Cosmos和英偉達(dá)的Omniverse仿真技術(shù)生成的視頻可以顯示機(jī)器人可能采取的所有路徑,助力其選擇最優(yōu)且最精準(zhǔn)的動(dòng)作。英偉達(dá)仿真技術(shù)副總裁雷夫·勒巴雷迪安(Rev Lebaredian)向《財(cái)富》雜志表示:“對(duì)于那些需要整理數(shù)億小時(shí)數(shù)據(jù)的自動(dòng)駕駛汽車和機(jī)器人公司而言,這無(wú)疑會(huì)改變游戲規(guī)則?!?/p>
Cosmos周一在廣受歡迎的Hugging Face社區(qū)上以開(kāi)源形式發(fā)布。
英偉達(dá)表示,許多頂級(jí)機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)駕駛汽車公司已成為其Cosmos平臺(tái)的早期采用者,包括優(yōu)步(Uber),F(xiàn)igure和Agility Robotics等熱門機(jī)器人初創(chuàng)公司,以及加拿大無(wú)人駕駛卡車初創(chuàng)公司W(wǎng)aabi和總部位于倫敦的自動(dòng)駕駛技術(shù)公司W(wǎng)ayve等資金雄厚的公司。為了消除潛在客戶對(duì)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的擔(dān)憂,勒巴雷迪安強(qiáng)調(diào),英偉達(dá)沒(méi)有銷售自己的機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)駕駛汽車的計(jì)劃。他說(shuō):“英偉達(dá)的目標(biāo)并非制造機(jī)器人,而是致力于提供[其他公司]制造機(jī)器人所需的計(jì)算機(jī)、工具和技術(shù)?!?/p>
當(dāng)然,英偉達(dá)將繼續(xù)銷售圖形處理器和軟件,以滿足OpenAI、Meta、谷歌(Google)、Anthropic、微軟(Microsoft)、亞馬遜(Amazon)和埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk)旗下的X公司在持續(xù)進(jìn)行的人工智能主導(dǎo)權(quán)爭(zhēng)奪戰(zhàn)中對(duì)算力的需求。這一新戰(zhàn)略的核心在于推動(dòng)英偉達(dá)未來(lái)的持續(xù)增長(zhǎng),并為該公司已經(jīng)飆升的股價(jià)增添新動(dòng)力。周一,英偉達(dá)的股價(jià)接近149.43美元的歷史高點(diǎn)。
研究公司Futurum Group的首席執(zhí)行官丹尼爾·紐曼(Daniel Newman)表示,英偉達(dá)在國(guó)際消費(fèi)電子展上發(fā)布的Cosmos平臺(tái)以及其他產(chǎn)品有望為該公司帶來(lái)巨大收益。他稱Cosmos平臺(tái)是客戶開(kāi)發(fā)下一代機(jī)器人,尤其是人形機(jī)器人的“關(guān)鍵賦能者”,并表示“未來(lái)十年,這一領(lǐng)域?qū)⒂袃r(jià)值數(shù)萬(wàn)億美元的市場(chǎng)機(jī)遇”。
勒巴雷迪安表示,英偉達(dá)在過(guò)去十年通過(guò)開(kāi)發(fā)涵蓋人工智能軟件、硬件、機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)駕駛汽車模擬計(jì)算機(jī)的生態(tài)系統(tǒng),為Cosmos平臺(tái)的問(wèn)世奠定了基礎(chǔ)。他指出,如今的變化在于這一新市場(chǎng)終于要騰飛了。勒巴雷迪安說(shuō):“我們相信,如果這個(gè)市場(chǎng)存在,我們將從中受益。為了讓它存在,我們需要為生態(tài)系統(tǒng)提供所有工具,并為其創(chuàng)造啟動(dòng)契機(jī)?!?
這已成為英偉達(dá)一貫秉持的策略,分析人士認(rèn)為這正是英偉達(dá)在過(guò)去三十年里能夠崛起的核心要素。長(zhǎng)期以來(lái),該公司始終強(qiáng)調(diào),它并非如許多人所認(rèn)為的那樣,僅僅是一家芯片公司,甚至也不僅僅是一家硬件制造商。相反,英偉達(dá)將自己定位為一家專注于“加速計(jì)算”的公司,致力于研發(fā)軟件及相關(guān)技術(shù)以吸引開(kāi)發(fā)者。
2007年,英偉達(dá)開(kāi)發(fā)了CUDA軟件,使研究人員能夠更輕松地使用該公司的圖形處理器。英偉達(dá)公司內(nèi)外的專家都表示,此舉推動(dòng)了2010年代早期的人工智能和深度學(xué)習(xí)革命。2019年,英偉達(dá)首次推出了開(kāi)源人工智能系統(tǒng)Megatron。該系統(tǒng)通過(guò)展示訓(xùn)練大規(guī)模模型的技術(shù),并對(duì)諸如ChatGPT底層架構(gòu)等人工智能領(lǐng)域的進(jìn)展產(chǎn)生影響,為包括OpenAI在內(nèi)的公司在大型語(yǔ)言模型研發(fā)方面取得突破做出貢獻(xiàn)。如果沒(méi)有Megatron,“我們或許至今仍未能迎來(lái)ChatGPT時(shí)刻,”勒巴雷迪安說(shuō)。
勒巴雷迪安補(bǔ)充說(shuō),Cosmos平臺(tái)的出現(xiàn)正值其他公司開(kāi)始在工廠、倉(cāng)庫(kù)和街道上部署機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)駕駛汽車車隊(duì)的時(shí)刻,或者說(shuō)“拐點(diǎn)”。不過(guò),該平臺(tái)還有很長(zhǎng)的路要走:他解釋說(shuō),要全面“理解”現(xiàn)實(shí)世界的方方面面,還需構(gòu)建一個(gè)強(qiáng)大得多的平臺(tái)。
當(dāng)然,勒巴雷迪安還表示,圖形處理器仍是英偉達(dá)的王牌,至少在現(xiàn)階段是如此。他說(shuō):“與我們目前的數(shù)據(jù)中心銷售相比,一切都顯得微不足道?!?/p>
然而,機(jī)器人領(lǐng)域的“ChatGPT時(shí)刻”能否惠及包括英偉達(dá)在內(nèi)的整個(gè)行業(yè),還有待觀察。幸運(yùn)的是,對(duì)于英偉達(dá)而言,即便礦工們從未真正挖到金子,僅僅是出售鎬和鏟也能讓英偉達(dá)獲利,紐曼說(shuō):“正如生成式人工智能在硬件之外的盈利模式尚不明朗一樣,但無(wú)論如何,英偉達(dá)都能從中獲益?!保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
Nvidia has made billions selling the picks and shovels powering the generative AI gold rush. Demand for Nvidia’s specialized chips, called GPUs, has boomed, sending the company’s stock soaring nearly 11-fold in two years.
But Nvidia knows it can’t just ride today’s AI wave forever, selling GPUs for tens of thousands of dollars each. It must help create the next wave.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Monday detailed that strategy, which boils down to seizing a coming “ChatGPT moment for robotics,” a reference to OpenAI’s buzzy AI assistant that kicked off the current AI craze. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, he announced Cosmos, an AI platform powered by generative AI models trained on 20 million hours of real-world robotics and driving videos. The models are specifically designed to work together with Nvidia’s simulation technology and drive breakthroughs in physical AI systems like self-driving cars and robots.
Developers can use Cosmos to generate highly-realistic, physics-based synthetic data—essentially creating lifelike virtual environments to train and test their systems without needing to gather massive amounts of real-world data. It’s notoriously difficult to create the datasets to train these systems because they require massive amounts of hard-to-get data, such as video of every possible humanoid robot movement or hard-to-replicate self-driving scenarios such as snowy roads and car accidents. Video generated by Cosmos and Nvidia’s Omniverse simulation technology could show every possible path a robot could take, helping it select the best and most accurate action. “This is absolutely game-changing for the AV and robotics companies out there that have hundreds of millions of hours of data that need to be curated,” Rev Lebaredian, vice president of simulation technology at Nvidia, told Fortune.
Cosmos was released Monday as open source on the popular Hugging Face community.
Nvidia said a number of top robotics and autonomous vehicle companies are already early adopters of its Cosmos technology, including Uber, hot robot startups like Figure and Agility Robotics, as well as highly-funded companies like Canadian driverless truck startup Waabi and London-based self-driving tech company Wayve. In an effort to tamp down any competitive concerns by potential customers, Lebaredian emphasized that Nvidia has no plans to sell its own robots and autonomous vehicles. “Nvidia is not going to create robots, we want to supply the computers and tooling and technology [others] need to build their robots,” he said.
Of course, Nvidia will continue to sell the GPUs and software to feed the computing power needs in the ongoing race for AI dominance among OpenAI, Meta, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, Amazon and Elon Musk’s X. Rather, the new strategy is aimed at driving future growth and the company’s already super-charged stock, which was near a record high of $149.43 on Monday.
Daniel Newman, CEO of research firm Futurum Group, said Nvidia’s Cosmos and Nvidia’s other product announcements at CES could pay off in a big way for the company. He called Cosmos a “key enabler” for customers developing the next generation of robotics, especially humanoid robots, and a “multi-trillion dollar market opportunity over the next decade.”
Lebaredian said Nvidia has laid the groundwork for Cosmos by spending the last decade developing an ecosystem of AI software, hardware, simulation computers for robots and autonomous vehicles. What’s changed, he said, is that this new market is finally about to take off. “We believe that we will benefit if that market exists,” said Lebaredian. “In order for it to exist, we need to seed the ecosystem with all of the tools and give them a jump start.”
It is a familiar playbook for Nvidia, one that analysts have hailed as a key to Nvidia’s three-decade-long rise. The company has long emphasized that it’s not, as many people think, a chip company, or even a hardware company. Instead, it sees itself as an “accelerated computing” company that creates software and related technology to attract developers.
In 2007, Nvidia created CUDA, software that made it easier for researchers to use the company’s GPUs. Experts both inside and outside Nvidia say the move helped lead to the early AI and deep learning revolution of the 2010s. In 2019, Nvidia also debuted Megatron, an open source AI system that contributed to breakthroughs by companies in developing large language models, including OpenAI, by demonstrating techniques to train massive models and influencing AI advancements like the architecture underlying ChatGPT. Without Megatron, “we probably wouldn’t have had the ChatGPT moment,” said Lebaredian.
Cosmos, Lebaredian added, comes at a moment, or “inflection” point, when other companies are starting to deploy fleets of robots and autonomous vehicles in factories, warehouses, and on streets. Still, Cosmos has a long way to go: It would take a far more powerful platform to fully ‘understand’ every aspect of the real world, he explained,
And, of course, Lebaredian says that GPUs remain king at Nvidia, at least for now. “Everything is kind of just dwarfed by our data center sales right now,” he said.
However, whether robotics’ ChatGPT moment pays off for everyone in the industry, including Nvidia, remains to be seen. Luckily, for Nvidia selling picks and shovels pays off even if miners never strike gold, said Newman: “A little like how Gen AI monetization is less clear beyond hardware, Nvidia wins no matter what.”