1/ How James Cameron’s Terminator 2 predicted modern AI chips and sparked the debate on AI safety. An appreciation thread.

2/ This is the chip that powers the T-800. Based on its appearance and commentary from chief architect Miles Dyson, the movie makes three predictions about future processors: 1) neural net acceleration 2) multi-core design 3) 3D fabrication.

Let’s look at these claims.

3/ Among the many technologies Cameron could have picked for Terminator, neural network processor was spot on. Neural net is the breakout technology of the past decade. As of 2020, there are ~100 companies building neural net processors with annual revenues exceeding $5 billion.

4/ The T-800 CPU is a 3x5 multi-chip design. It suggests monolithic integration (very large chips) has been replaced by a network of smaller chips, especially for “edge” applications such as robots.

5/ 2020's AMD Rome CPU is exactly that. Unlike the large monolithic CPUs of the past 40 years, AMD’s Rome processor is composed of 8 smaller CPUs tied together by a network chip, helping it to surpass Intel for the first time in over a decade.

6/ In terms of network topology, the T-800 CPU appears to be laid out in a planar fashion, suggesting a 2D-mesh or torus network. When you look at today’s leading AI supercomputers such as Google’s cloud TPU, what do you find? Yup, a 2D torus network.

7/ Finally, T-800 chips are not square but cubes. This implies IC manufacturing has gone from 2D to 3D—chips stack on top of each other. In our world, we started shipping 3D memory about 5 years ago. TSMC’s 3D processor stacking technology is slated for production in 2021.

8/ Two decades on, Terminator 2 is not only a masterpiece of sci-fi, it predicted the technology stack of 2020 from AI to cloud computing, chip design to packaging. Arguably, it also sparked the debate on AI safety and spurred the creation of companies like OpenAI.