Friday Post: AI Magic Requires Know-how and Computing Power

The Heise online editorial discusses the fascination of solar eclipses and compares it to the magic of AI, where users get impressive answers or even working programs from statistical processes that are hard to comprehend. To fully exploit AI, basic knowledge is necessary, so the magazine published a three-part beginner's tutorial for the Claude chatbot, focusing on personalization to maintain context, style, and knowledge across conversations, and on security risks when granting file access. The article also explains that AI magic happens either on local PCs or in special AI data centers, which are proliferating especially in the USA and differ from traditional server farms. For local use, hardware with at least 16 GB of VRAM is required, and Heise tested two budget graphics cards with 16 GB VRAM, running benchmarks with current AI models, revealing differences between AMD and Nvidia cards in processing speed measured in tokens per second. Additionally, the editor recommends articles on creating and printing a photo book and a test of a bed climate cooler.