Raspberry Pi’s new add-on board has 8GB of RAM for running gen AI models

Raspberry Pi has introduced the AI HAT+ 2, a new $130 add-on board designed to enable the Raspberry Pi 5 to run generative AI models locally. This module is an upgrade over last year's version, now featuring 8GB of RAM and a Hailo 10H chip providing 40 TOPS of AI performance. When connected, the HAT+ 2 offloads AI workloads, freeing up the main board's CPU. Unlike its predecessor focused on image processing, the AI HAT+ 2 supports running small gen AI models such as Llama 3.2, DeepSeek-R1-Distill, and Qwen models, and allows for training and fine-tuning. Demonstrations showed its capability in generating text descriptions from camera streams and translating text. However, tech YouTuber Jeff Geerling noted that a standalone 8GB Raspberry Pi 5 generally outperformed the HAT+ 2, attributing the difference to the HAT+'s lower 3W power limit compared to the Pi 5's 10W capability. Geerling suggested that the extra RAM on the HAT+ 2 might not be enough to overcome the performance deficit compared to simply opting for the more flexible 16GB Raspberry Pi 5.

(Source：The Verge)