Your Raspberry Pi 5 just got a big AI upgrade - thanks to this new add-on

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ZDNET's key takeaways

• The upgraded AI HAT+ 2 boosts performance to 40 TOPS.
• The board comes with 8GB of onboard RAM.
• The ban could have a significant impact on businesses and jobs.

If you're into Raspberry Pi computers and AI, then chances are that you're already using the AI HAT+ that was released back in 2024. This was a game-changer in terms of offloading AI workloads onto the Pi 5. The idea is that this is a low-cost, data-private way to process edge AI workloads without needing to use third-party cloud-based AI services.

Also: The best Raspberry Pi alternatives of 2026: Expert recommended

Well, today sees that board get a significant upgrade with the release of the AI HAT+ 2.

Two versions

The AI HAT+ came in two versions ...