Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
Samsung urged to secure lead in AI revolution
Sebastian Seung, president of Global Research and Development at Samsung Research, speaks at Samsung Electronics' press conference during the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
World-renowned artificial intelligence (AI) scholar Sebastian Seung urged Samsung Electronics to seize the momentum and take the lead in the AI industry.
"Generative AI is accelerating the transformation towards the popularization of AI. In the new ecosystem, Samsung must firmly establish its position as quickly as possible,” Seung, the president of Global Research and Development (R&D) at Samsung Research, posted on the internal knowledge-sharing platform Mosaic, Monday. "We are at a turning point where significant opportunities and threats coexist. AI is evolving into a tool that anyone can use to enhance their productivity, similar to the personal computer revolution of the 1980s."
He termed this the “Personal AI Revolution.”
"The Personal AI Revolution will be as significant as the changes brought by the internet and mobile phones," he said.
Seung, a leading figure in AI based on brain neuroscience, obtained a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Harvard University, and after working as a Bell Labs researcher and a professor of physics at MIT, he has been a professor of computer science at Princeton University since 2014.
Samsung Electronics recruited Seung in 2018 to strengthen its AI research capabilities, entrusting him with shaping its AI strategy and providing guidance for future growth prospects.
"The new ecosystem consists of large platform companies that provide generative AI and small companies that create human-in-the-loop models using their application programming interfaces (APIs). Samsung needs to determine how to strategically dominate the device layer within this ecosystem," Seung emphasized.
The field of AI is one of the future growth drivers personally overseen by Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong. In November 2017, Samsung Electronics established Samsung Research, an integrated research organization, and set up AI centers to conduct advanced AI research. Currently, it operates AI centers in seven locations globally including Silicon Valley and New York.
Recently, under Samsung Research's Next Generation home appliance research team, a Smart Home AI Lab was established to engage in advanced research and development related to finding ways to differentiate home appliances and services based on AI.
Meanwhile, due to the proliferation of generative AI and associated security concerns, Samsung Electronics is developing its own generative AI in collaboration with Samsung SDS.
Cheun Kyung-whoon, chief technology officer (CTO) of Samsung Electronics' Device Experience (DX) Division and president of Samsung Research, explained the direction of the company's internal generative AI development during a recent internal town hall meeting including coding support, document summarization, email transmission, enhancing internal productivity and integrating AI into Samsung devices.
"Coding support and more will begin beta testing within the company from October and will be opened to employees by the end of the year or early next year," Cheun said.