A solution looking for a problem? Intel is introducing an AI app that runs locally on the latest CPUs, but will it convince users of the benefits of AI for end users?
Intel has updated its AI Playground app, which initially launched in July 2024, to demonstrate the capabilities of running AI tasks on the latest Intel Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake) series processors.
The app is designed to run full AI on compatible systems and takes advantage of the chipmaker’s built-in AI accelerators and Arc GPUs.
AI Playground is available as a free download and is optimized for Intel Core Ultra PCs with integrated Intel Arc GPUs or discrete Intel Arc graphics cards with 8 GB of memory. The latest version includes installers for the Intel Core Ultra 200V (1.21b) and Ultra-H series (1.01b), as well as Intel Arc dGPUs.
New features
For many Windows 11 users, Microsoft Copilot will be their main (perhaps only) AI experience, but privacy concerns have arisen due to the controversial Recall feature and potential data sharing.
AI Playground keeps all processing on the device itself, offering a more private and secure alternative for users wary of cloud-based AI.
The app is designed to help users explore and understand the benefits of AI Tom’s hardware compares it to how Microsoft added Solitaire to early versions of Windows to help users get used to the mouse. Whether there’s a need for such an app comes down to whether Intel can demonstrate real-world value beyond just demonstrating its technology, and the jury is currently out on that.
The app’s primary modes – Create, Enhance, and Reply – offer a number of tools. Create mode generates images from text prompts using SD1.5 or SDXL models, while Enhance mode supports upscaling, inpainting and outpainting for complex image operations. Answer mode functions as a local chatbot that can process documents and answer questions, while keeping data private by working entirely on the user’s device.
The new update introduces features tailored for Ultra 200V processors, such as an exclusive theme and an improved LLM Picker that comes pre-loaded with models like Phi3, Qwen2 and Mistral.
Users can also install their own native PyTorch LLMs, as long as they are compatible with Transformer version 4.39. The new version also includes a Conversation Manager for saving chat sessions, a font size adjustment tool, and a preset aspect ratio selector to streamline image creation.
For more information about the AI Playground project, please visit the page GitHubor join the Disagreement among Intel insiders.