Nvidia boosts LJMU AI computing power

Scientific research at LJMU received a major boost thanks to a strong, ongoing collaboration with NVIDIA, the world leader in AI.

The acquisition of three powerful NVIDIA DGX deep learning systems, each equipped with NVIDIA GPUs, is set to give LJMU researchers some serious bandwidth to push the boundaries of AI modelling and lays the ground for the Faculty of Engineering and Technology’s nascent Centre for Artificial Intelligence.

“When it comes to doing AI, this new supercomputing capability opens up a host of new frontiers for us,” said Dr Carl Chalmers, reader in machine learning and applied AI at LJMU.

NVIDIA has a long relationship with Dr Chalmers and Professor Paul Fergus through their Conservation AI platform – a visual recognition tool that is helping to track animal species in the wild.

Dr Chalmers explained: “These formidable computing resources will vastly improve our ability to train larger and more complex vision models, helping advance our work in animal detection across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Malaysian forests, and North and South America in the fight against biodiversity loss.” 

Professor Paul Fergus says its work in computer vision will now be quicker and easier: “This upgrade with DGX represents not just an enhancement of our technical capabilities, but also an opportunity to leverage cutting-edge technology to address some of the most pressing environmental and societal challenges of our time.”

PVC Professor Ndy Ekere added: “Through this significant technological advancement, we are poised to make transformative contributions to conservation science and public safety, reaffirming our leadership in the application of artificial intelligence for the greater good. This is certainly something that has been recognised with teams’ recent publication in Nature (How AI can help save endangered) species, which highlights the impact Conservation AI is having worldwide.”.

Dr Chalmers and Professor Fergus are NVIDIA ‘Deep Learning Institute’ certified instructors and university ambassadors for the company and teach on the MSc Artificial Intelligence programme.

Image: Nvidia's Ross Verrall (right) presents the GPU covers at the LJMU Data Centre with Professor Ndy Ekere (left), VC Professor Mark Power and Mark Smith, data centre manager.