LG unveils new AI-based air conditioner
Song Dae-hyun, left, president of LG Electronics’ home appliance and air systems business, poses next to the LG Whisen ThinQ, the firm’s new air conditioner outfitted with artificial intelligence technology, ahead of a launch event at LG’s head office on Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap
Home appliance giant tries to beef up leadership
By Jun Ji-hye
LG Electronics unveiled its new air conditioner outfitted with artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Thursday.
The LG Whisen ThinQ features the company’s AI platform Deep ThinQ, which enables the device to learn users’ lifestyle patterns and surroundings, the company said.
The core functions of the new product are natural language processing and “smart care” technologies
With the natural language processing function, a user simply calls out “LG Whisen” in the direction of the device and then tells it to switch on or off, or the temperature and wind strength.
“The device can even understand a user saying ‘I am cold’ or ‘I am hot’ and then suggest whether to turn the air conditioner on or off,” a company official said during a launch event held at LG Twin Towers on Yeouido, Seoul.
He noted that the device is also capable of understanding intonations from different dialects.
A user can check outside weather and the concentration of fine dust by voice commands as well.
Smart care technologies enable the device to learn about the environment surrounding users as well as their behavioral patterns. The air conditioner can then cool a room automatically to the temperature preferred by users and chooses appropriate functions such as air cleaning or dehumidification accordingly, the official said.
The new product can be connected with the company’s AI embedded smart speaker, the ThinQ Hub, as well as others developed by Google, Amazon, Naver, SK Telecom and KT.
The company stressed that the new air conditioner is differentiated especially by its advanced inverter technology, which enhances performance and efficiency.
“The new device has a 30 percent better energy efficiency compared to that of existing ones,” the official said.
Song Dae-hyun, president of LG Electronics’ home appliance and air systems business who was present at the ceremony, said the more customers use the LG Whisen ThinQ, the better the device understands them as it educates itself and becomes smarter over time.
“We will continue to consolidate our No. 1 position in the air conditioner market based on our differentiated AI technologies,” he said.