Abstract
Microsoft introduced Phi-Silica, a 3.3B parameter AI model optimized to run on Copilot + PCs NPUs. The target audience is Windows developers developing applications in the Copilot+PC environment.
Developers in the Copilot+PC ecosystem
AI revolution on PC started with Microsoft's announcement on May 20th, 2024, so there are many of interesting news about how the future will look. Microsoft introduced the “Copilot+PC” platform, which is basically a hardware platform that will be able to execute Microsoft AI software Probably 2 years from now, one will not be able to buy a laptop that does not have a coprocessor for AI/Neural networks or a Microsoft product that is not AI-enabled.
In order to enable Windows developers to exploit new hardware platforms, Microsoft introduced Phi-Silica, a 3.3B parameter model optimized to run on Copilot + PCs NPUs.
Phi-Silica is a Small Language Model (SML), specifically designed for the Neural Processing Units (NPUs) in new Copilot+ PCs. Phi Silica is the smallest model in the Phi family SLM models, with 3.3 billion parameters. Phi-3-Silica runs directly on the Copilot+ PC without the need for an internet connection.
Developers can access Phi-Silica using Windows App SDK, and some C# examples are available at [2]. Phi-Silica can be used to develop applications for the Windows ecosystem.
Typical use cases are expected to be: Offline voice assistants with limited functionality; Text-to-speech conversion for visually impaired users; Real-time captioning for audio and video; Real-time language translation; Offline comprehension; Smart dictation and speech recognition.
References
[1] Microsoft Introduces Phi Silica: A 3.3 Billion Parameter AI Model Transforming Efficiency and Performance in Personal Computing.
https://www.marktechpost.com/2024/05/24/microsoft-introduces-phi-silica-a-3-3-billion-parameter-ai-model-transforming-efficiency-and-performance-in-personal-computing/
[2] Phi Silica in the Windows App SDK.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ai/apis/phi-silica
[3] Microsoft introduces Phi-Silica, a 3.3B parameter model made for Copilot+ PC NPUs.
https://venturebeat.com/ai/microsoft-introduces-phi-silica-a-3-3b-parameter-model-made-for-copilot-pc-npus/
[4] Welcome to the Microsoft Phi-3 Cookbook.
https://github.com/microsoft/Phi-3CookBook
[5] What is Microsoft’s Phi-Silica: The Phi Family History?
https://rupali-patil.medium.com/what-is-microsofts-phi-silica-the-phi-family-history-892d68daef29
[6] Tiny but mighty: The Phi-3 small language models with big potential.
https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/ai/the-phi-3-small-language-models-with-big-potential/
[7] Microsoft debuts Phi Silica, AI specifically for Copilot+ PCs.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2340495/microsoft-debuts-phi-silica-ai-specifically-for-copilot-pcs.html