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"AI" on a Calculator (2023)

Can AI run on a calculator? Machine learning and computer vision algorithms can certainly be run on a calculator albeit slowly: I ported a convolutional neural network (CNN) to a TI-84 Plus CE, making it capable of using “AI” to identify handwritten digits. As an added challenge, I implemented this in a single three-day train ride, including solving several interesting systems problems and making the code equally useable on a computer.

With the C/C++ toolchain created by the calculator hobbyist community, however, higher-level programs are possible, and I was willing to sacrifice a bit of speed for a faster proof of concept that could be finished in days, not weeks. The sample are randomly distributed, so I judged it would be sufficient to put a subset of the data on the calculator for training and testing: 42 of these AppVars consumes 2687KB of Flash, leaving enough space for the checkpoint (46KB), the CNNCE program itself, and the CE C/C++ libraries. In fact, I first had to discover that it definitely didn’t fit in the existing heap: my math confirmed that it would be far too large, but I could not positively identify exactly where it was failing, as malloc()(and new) would not correctly return nullptr when there was no available memory to reserve.

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