NVIDIA & Microsoft Collaborate to Propel Generative AI Applications, Over 2x Boost With Latest Drivers

NVIDIA and Microsoft have launched a joint effort to enhance Windows 11 apps that use generative artificial intelligence (AI), capitalizing on the current surge of interest in AI. At the Microsoft Build developer conference, the companies unveiled several improvements for Windows 11 PCs and workstations with NVIDIA's RTX GPUs that they claim will satisfy the needs of generative AI.

NVIDIA Aims To Accelerate AI Developments By Partnering Up With Microsoft Through Windows 11

NVIDIA RTX GPUs feature "Tensor Cores" that aid in running AI-based software such as Adobe Firefly. The advances with the partnership, which include frameworks for optimizing and deploying AI, tools for building AI on Windows PCs, and enhancements to driver speed and efficiency, will enable developers to create the next generation of Windows programs featuring the power of AI.

AI will be the single largest driver of innovation for Windows customers in the coming years. By working in concert with NVIDIA on hardware and software optimizations, we’re equipping developers with a transformative, high-performance, easy-to-deploy experience.

Pavan Davuluri, Corporate VP of Windows silicon and system integration at Microsoft

Microsoft and NVIDIA also benefit from Windows' capacity to run the Linux operating system. To recap, Microsoft is working on a helpful feature that will enable users to run Linux on Windows itself. The company has called this "Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)." NVIDIA claims to have been striving to provide "GPU acceleration and support" for the complete AI software stack of the firm within WSL.

NVIDIA has made great strides in improving the performance of its Tensor Cores, making them ideal for AI inferencing. The goal of NVIDIA's driver development is to improve the efficiency of their GPUs with programs like Stable Diffusion.

Here is what NVIDIA is planning to provide consumers with efficient performance with AI-based applications:

On May 24, we’ll release our latest optimizations in Release 532.03 drivers that combine with Olive-optimized models to deliver big boosts in AI performance. Using an Olive-optimized version of the Stable Diffusion text-to-image generator with the popular Automatic1111 distribution, performance is improved over 2x with the new driver.

With AI coming to nearly every Windows application, efficiently delivering inference performance is critical — especially for laptops. Coming soon, NVIDIA will introduce new Max-Q low-power inferencing for AI-only workloads on RTX GPUs. It optimizes Tensor Core performance while keeping power consumption of the GPU as low as possible, extending battery life and maintaining a cool, quiet system.  The GPU can then dynamically scale up for maximum AI performance when the workload demands it.

The software industry has widely praised NVIDIA's artificial intelligence technology, with companies including Adobe, DxO, ON1, and Topaz citing its contributions to providing optimal user experiences.

The current AI boom has undoubtedly prompted businesses to speed up their development of AI-based applications. As the primary catalyst for such applications, this has significantly boosted the success of firms like NVIDIA, who are now further investing (in the form of collaborations) to strengthen their position in the industry.

Written by Muhammad Zuhair Haider Zaidi