A group of Chinese scientists has published (PDF) a paper titled "Pushing the Limits of Machine Design: Automated CPU Design with AI." The paper details the researchers' work in designing a new industrial-scale RISC-V CPU in under 5 hours. It is claimed this AI-automated feat was about 1000x faster than a human team could have finished a comparable CPU design. However, some may poke fun at the resulting AI-designed CPU performing approximately on par with an i486.
The goal of the Chinese research team was to answer the question of whether machines can design chips like humans. Earlier AI-crafted designs have been relatively small or limited in scope, reckons the team. Thus, to test the boundaries of AI design, the researchers thought they would try and get an AI to automatically design a RISC-V CPU.
