Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) plans to introduce one of the first services that lets companies tap into the potential of generative artificial intelligence (AI) while keeping control over their data.
The novelty of the Taipei-based firm’s offering, called AFS Appliance, is that all of the hardware would be installed in the client’s own facilities — to maintain security and control.
The AI computational platform, built on Nvidia’s chip technology, would be operated and updated with new data by Asustek.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
A major concern around services such as OpenAI is that they are operated through online data centers that can expose sensitive information. Samsung Electronics Co banned employees from using OpenAI’s ChatGPT after it found workers had uploaded sensitive code to the platform.
Asustek is to preload the AFS hardware with its own large language model, called Formosa, which it says is equivalent to ChatGPT 3.5 and trained in traditional Chinese.
The company aims to price the service at about US$6,000 per month, Asus Cloud Corp (華碩雲端) and Taiwan Web Service Corp (台智雲) president Peter Wu (吳漢章) said in an interview on Monday.
The highest-spec offering, which adds an Nvidia DGX AI supercomputer platform, would cost about US$10,000 a month, he said.
Wu aims to have 30 to 50 enterprise customers in Taiwan and expand internationally by the end of this year.
“Nvidia is a partner with us to accelerate the enterprise adoption of this technology,” Wu said. “Before ChatGPT, the enterprises were not aware of why they need so much computing power.”
Most businesses would deploy generative AI on their own premises due to sensitivity about access to their proprietary data, Wu said.
“They need a smart brain to be under their own control and management, as it will touch on the most sensitive data,” he said.
Recently returning from a trip to Singapore, Wu says he sees a lot of interest from banks and hospitals. In the clinical context, generative AI would help doctors document treatments and patients visits quicker, while also helping communicate diagnoses in more relatable language to patients.
There is no supply shortage of Nvidia’s A100 chips, which run the AFS Appliance, Wu said, and the existing partnership between the companies is helping ensure that Asustek would have all the firepower it needs to roll out its new offering.
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