Towards Automated Kernel Generation in the Era of LLMs
The performance of modern AI systems is fundamentally constrained by the quality of their underlying kernels, which translate high-level algorithmic semantics into low-level hardware operations. Achieving near-optimal kernels requires expert-level understanding of hardware architectures and programming models, making kernel engineering a critical but notoriously time-consuming and non-scalable process. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) and LLM-based agents have opened new possibilities for automating kernel generation and optimization. LLMs are well-suited to compress expert-level kernel knowledge that is difficult to formalize, while agentic systems further enable scalable optimization by casting kernel development as an iterative, feedback-driven loop. Rapid progress has been made in this area. However, the field remains fragmented, lacking a systematic perspective for LLM-driven kernel generation. This survey addresses this gap by providing a structured overview of existing approaches, spanning LLM-based approaches and agentic optimization workflows, and systematically compiling the datasets and benchmarks that underpin learning and evaluation in this domain. Moreover, key open challenges and future research directions are further outlined, aiming to establish a comprehensive reference for the next generation of automated kernel optimization. To keep track of this field, we maintain an open-source GitHub repository at https://github.com/flagos-ai/awesome-LLM-driven-kernel-generation.
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Yang Yu
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Peiyu Zang
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Chi Hsu Tsai
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Haiming Wu
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Yixin Shen
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Jialing Zhang
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Haoyu Wang
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Zhiyou Xiao
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Jingze Shi
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2026-02-09T08:37:20.328Z
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Loser Cheems
JingzeShi
user
JingzeShi
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Yuyu Luo
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Wentao Zhang
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Chunlei Men
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Guang Liu
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2026-01-28T14:41:42.641Z
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Guang Liu
ZacLiu
user
ZacLiu
69733023fb12c92b735b75b4
Yonghua Lin
Towards Automated Kernel Generation in the Era of LLMs
The performance of modern AI systems is fundamentally constrained by the quality of their underlying kernels, which translate high-level algorithmic semantics into low-level hardware operations. Achieving near-optimal kernels requires expert-level understanding of hardware architectures and programming models, making kernel engineering a critical but notoriously time-consuming and non-scalable process. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) and LLM-based agents have opened new possibilities for automating kernel generation and optimization. LLMs are well-suited to compress expert-level kernel knowledge that is difficult to formalize, while agentic systems further enable scalable optimization by casting kernel development as an iterative, feedback-driven loop. Rapid progress has been made in this area. However, the field remains fragmented, lacking a systematic perspective for LLM-driven kernel generation. This survey addresses this gap by providing a structured overview of existing approaches, spanning LLM-based approaches and agentic optimization workflows, and systematically compiling the datasets and benchmarks that underpin learning and evaluation in this domain. Moreover, key open challenges and future research directions are further outlined, aiming to establish a comprehensive reference for the next generation of automated kernel optimization. To keep track of this field, we maintain an open-source GitHub repository at https://github.com/flagos-ai/awesome-LLM-driven-kernel-generation.
Large language models and agent-based systems are being leveraged to automate kernel generation and optimization, addressing the scalability challenges in hardware-specific code development through structured approaches and systematic benchmarking.
large language models LLM-based agents kernel generation kernel optimization agentic systems hardware architectures programming models automated optimization kernel engineering machine learning frameworks