It almost goes without saying that artificial intelligence (AI) is one of today’s hottest topics. But often, the data and infrastructure of widely used AI solutions, like ChatGPT, reside in the cloud. This not only prevents offline use; it also gives rise to latency issues and can compromise security.
As edge devices like smartphones, tablets, and internet of things (IoT) hardware gain importance, there’s growing demand for them to include built-in AI capabilities. This approach, known as edge AI, has many benefits. And the market for the tech holds considerable potential: Recent research by Accenture has found that only 65% of companies are using edge AI solutions.
What Is Edge AI and How Does it Work?
Edge AI gets its name because many solutions of this kind run directly on edge devices. This contrasts with traditional AI solutions, which run in the cloud or on remote central servers.
The edge devices capture data from sensors or other sources in their local environment. This data may include images, videos, or other types of relevant input. Unlike traditional AI, however, edge AI handles the task of analyzing data on the edge device. It does so by leveraging specialized hardware accelerators, such as GPUs (graphics processing units) or TPUs (tensor processing units), and optimized AI algorithms running locally on the edge device.
Following initial processing, the data is fed into these algorithms, which perform image recognition, speech recognition, anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, and any other AI tasks relevant to the use case. Finally, the AI model makes real-time decisions or predictions based on the input data.
Key Differentiators of Edge AI
There are several features that set edge AI apart from conventional cloud-based solutions. First, functionality is available offline, allowing it to be used in environments with limited or no connectivity. Second, edge AI enhances privacy and security by minimizing the exposure of sensitive information to external networks.
The tech is also more adaptable than its cloud-based counterparts since it can be adjusted and optimized dynamically based on real-time data input. Importantly, edge AI drives energy efficiency. It optimizes energy consumption by reducing the need for data transmission and processing on central servers. And this improves the battery life and overall energy efficiency of edge devices.
Edge AI in Real-World Settings
Today, edge AI is a familiar part of our day-to-day lives. Widely used on smartphones, tablets, and IoT devices, it powers speech recognition and voice assistants (for example, Apple Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa) as well as image and object recognition (for example, Apple Face ID, Google Lens, and Windows Hello). In addition, edge AI enhances cameras through automatic scene detection, image stabilization, and facial enhancement.
While corporate uptake could be higher, edge AI is already deployed in various industries. In the manufacturing sector, solutions of this kind are deployed in predictive maintenance and quality control. In retail, they deliver real-time customer insights, personalized shopping experiences, dynamic pricing, and smarter inventory management.
Edge AI is also pivotal in the automotive sector – particularly in autonomous vehicles. Tesla, for example, leverages it for applications including autonomous driving and object detection and tracking. BMW uses the tech in its advanced driver assistance systems, intelligent navigation, and vehicle diagnostics. And Daimler deploys edge AI for automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and vehicle communication.
Edge AI Versus Cloud AI: the Upsides…
As already mentioned, one of the great benefits of edge AI is that it can be used offline and doesn’t need an Internet connection. Additionally, less data mut be transmitted between local devices and remote servers, minimizing latency, and enabling real-time responses – a crucial factor in applications like autonomous vehicles and manufacturing.
Another key benefit of edge AI over conventional cloud-based approaches is data security. Because all data can be processed locally, without having to be transmitted to and from central servers, there’s a lower risk of data breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive data.
…and the Downsides
However, edge devices tend to have limited computing resources and data compared to cloud servers, restricting the complexity and scale of the AI models that can be deployed. If the AI models are trained using smaller datasets, their effectiveness may be limited. What’s more, edge devices lack access to the comprehensive, real-time data streams that are readily available in cloud environments.
Another drawback is the difficulty of updating models on devices that are distributed across remote locations and may have limited connectivity. Unlike in cloud-based AI, where updates can be managed and rolled out centrally, manual intervention or specialized deployment strategies may be needed to update models on edge devices. Finally, edge AI poses challenges in terms of scalability. As is the case with updates, managing and coordinating maintenance and synchronization of AI models across a distributed edge infrastructure can become complex and resource-intensive, particularly as the number of edge devices increases.
The Way Forward
As we’ve seen, edge AI already plays an integral part in everyday and industrial applications. But awareness of the tech remains low compared to cloud AI applications, leaving a great deal of its potential untapped.
While the lower latency of real-time edge AI and its independence from the Internet are clear advantages over cloud solutions, performance is restricted by the comparatively limited computing resources and data infrastructure. This notwithstanding, the market for edge AI was valued at some USD 14,787.5 million in 2022 and is forecast to see compound annual growth of 21.0% from 2023 through 2030.
Any Questions or Comments?
If you’d like to dig deeper into edge AI and its real-world applications, feel free to reach out to me. What do you think about the tech and its prospects? Let us know in the comments below.
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