Try GOLD - Free

Chips Designed by A.I.

Popular Mechanics US

|

July - August 2025

OUR WORLD RUNS ON COMPUTER CHIPS.

- Caroline Delbert

Chips Designed by A.I.

From the chips that run new cars to the chips that help your phones and computers process information to the microchips that help track lost animals, very few aspects of modern human life are not touched by chips. As a result, there’s a huge and consistent push to make better and more innovative chips as quickly as possible—sometimes by any means necessary. And apparently, that sometimes means taking a portion of the design control out of human hands.

A group of scientists recently explained their process of letting artificial intelligence (A.I.) design and test more efficient computer chips in a new study, published in the journal Nature Communications. Lead author Kaushik Sengupta has been careful to explain that the goal is to supplement human productivity rather than replace it.

Popular Mechanics US

This story is from the July - August 2025 edition of Popular Mechanics US.

Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers.

Already a subscriber?

MORE STORIES FROM Popular Mechanics US

Popular Mechanics US

Popular Mechanics US

The Tomb of Jesus Christ

AT THE PLACE WHERE Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.\"-John 19:41.

time to read

2 mins

September/October 2025

Popular Mechanics US

Popular Mechanics US

Actual Random Numbers

A LARGE TEAM OF SCIENTISTS CLAIMS to have achieved “certified randomness” using a quantum computer.

time to read

3 mins

September/October 2025

Popular Mechanics US

Popular Mechanics US

STURDY STEEL WIENER DOG BOOT SCRAPER

A recent North Atlantic mud season became the inspiration for this weekend metalsmithing project.

time to read

3 mins

September/October 2025

Popular Mechanics US

An Ancient Scarab Amulet

CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS picking stuff up off the ground—usually junk. But sometimes, they can find real treasure.

time to read

2 mins

September/October 2025

Popular Mechanics US

Popular Mechanics US

Inside the Glitter LAB

How the tiniest trace of red shimmer helped solve one of California's most brutal crimes.

time to read

15 mins

September/October 2025

Popular Mechanics US

THE POWER OF EARTH'S ROTATION

AS CLIMATE CHANGE CONTINUES TO impact countries and communities around the world, humanity is hungry for alternative sources of green energy.

time to read

1 mins

September/October 2025

Popular Mechanics US

Popular Mechanics US

The SECRET VENOMOUS HISTORY of Ozempic

How a deadly toxin from a desert dwelling lizard led to one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in modern times.

time to read

15 mins

September/October 2025

Popular Mechanics US

Popular Mechanics US

ONE BUCKET. TEN GENIUS HACKS.

THERE'S A $5 DO-IT-ALL PROBLEM SOLVER JUST SITTING IN YOUR GARAGE. PUT IT TO WORK!

time to read

4 mins

September/October 2025

Popular Mechanics US

Popular Mechanics US

Lucid Dreaming

THE STATE KNOWN AS LUCID DREAMING IS an unquestionably surreal one, and it just got even more so. A team of researchers at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands has discovered that lucid dreaming is a state of consciousness separate from both wakefulness and REM sleep (the state usually associated with dreams). In fact, it is associated with its own type of brain activity.

time to read

1 mins

September/October 2025

Popular Mechanics US

Popular Mechanics US

The Ancient People of the Sahara

BETWEEN 14,800 AND 5,500 YEARS AGO, the Sahara—known for being one of the driest places on Earth—actually had enough water to support a way of life. Back then, it was a savanna that early human populations settled to take advantage of the favorable farming conditions. Among them was a mysterious people who lived in what is now southwestern Libya and should have been genetically subSaharan—except, upon a modern analysis, their genes didn’t reflect that.

time to read

1 mins

September/October 2025

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size