University of Bristol to host one of Europe’s most powerful Artificial Intelligence supercomputers

The University of Bristol is to house one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers, the AI Research Resource, nicknamed Isambard-AI.

A UK university has been picked to house one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers.

The University of Bristol is set to become the new home of the AI Research Resource – nicknamed Isambard-AI, after the legendary engineer Isambard Brunel – to “maximise the potential” of the tech.

The university’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it will “help researchers maximise the potential of AI”.

The school – who already have the supercomputer Isambard 3 – admitted they were “delighted” to be selected to host the device.

Professor Simon McIntosh- Smith, a senior lecturer of high-performance computing at the Russell Group University, said: “We’re delighted to be chosen as the site to host the UK’s first ever Artificial Intelligence Research Resource.

“Isambard-AI will be one of the world’s first, large-scale, open AI supercomputers, and builds on our expertise designing and operating cutting-edge computational facilities, such as the incoming Isambard 3.”

This comes after a student at the same university devised an app to prevent others from cheating on assignments with an essay bot, a common problem in academic settings.

Ed Daniels, a 22-year-old fourth-year student, felt he needed to “protect the education system” after the surge in popularity of chatbots like ChatGPT – by “fighting fire with fire” with his venture, AIED.UK.

He told BBC News: “Currently, the best models of essay-writing bots, you have to pay for. You have to pay £20 a month to get GPT 4, and it is a lot better, so that gives richer students a real advantage.

“It worries me that some people may not have access to that stuff, so we need to level the playing field.”