Companies of 'AI Avengers' who met President Moon... Delivered AI semiconductors and unveiled AI robots

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgi Na] Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, KT, Naver, Kakao, and other so-called 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) Avengers' companies gathered in one place to showcase their accumulated AI capabilities. They presented the world's best AI semiconductor (SK Telecom), developed domestically for the first time, to President Moon Jae-in, and also demonstrated robot technology (Naver) capable of learning even the delicate movements of humans. These companies introduced projects, achievements, and future plans pursued over the past year since President Moon announced the AI national strategy at the end of last year, expressing their determination to lead the leap to becoming the top AI nation.

▶Refer to our November 17th pages 1 and 14 articles ([Exclusive] Samsung, the three telecom companies, Naver, Kakao 'AI Avengers' gather in one place)

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the industry, the event 'Korean New Deal, Meeting Korea's Artificial Intelligence' held on the afternoon of the 25th at KINTEX in Ilsan was attended by President Moon Jae-in, major domestic ICT companies, venture and startup representatives, and related organizations to share the achievements and future vision of the AI national strategy established over the past year.

At the event, five companies?Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, KT, Naver, and Kakao?each presented on the themes of ▲data openness and AI robots (Naver) ▲AI One Team, a collaboration case among industry, academia, research institutes, and government (KT) ▲leap to becoming an AI company (Kakao) ▲human-centered AI (Samsung Electronics) ▲AI semiconductor (SK Telecom). These five companies are representative domestic ICT companies that have actively responded since President Moon announced the AI national strategy. The government is interpreted as aiming to encourage the entire industry and drive the leap to becoming the top AI nation by introducing the leading technologies and research and development (R&D) of the AI Avengers companies, which are the most active investors in AI.

President Moon Jae-in is taking a commemorative photo after receiving the country's first domestically developed AI semiconductor from Kim Yoon, Vice President of SKT, at the "Korean New Deal: Meeting Artificial Intelligence in Korea" event held at KINTEX in Ilsan, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province on the afternoon of the 25th. 2020.11.25 Photo by Yonhap News

◆From Naver to SKT... Introducing AI Strategies

First, Seoksang Ok, CEO of Naver Labs, began the keynote by emphasizing Naver's 'Global AI Research Belt.' He suggested that this vast belt connecting Asia and Europe centered on Korea, starting with the AI for Robotics workshop held last year at Naver Labs Europe (formerly Xerox Research Center Europe) in Grenoble, France, with world-renowned technology scholars, will become a new trend to counter the US-China technological hegemony centered on GAFA and BATH. He also announced the launch and opening of a data sandbox environment on the cloud for data utilization within the year and emphasized support for AI service development by ventures and startups. He introduced world-class AI robot technology capable of learning even the delicate movements of humans.

Jeon Hong-beom, Vice President of KT, introduced AI One Team, an AI consortium formed by industry, academia, and research institutes led by KT, including Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, KAIST, Hanyang University, ETRI, LG Electronics, LG U+, Korea Investment & Securities, and Dongwon Group. This is evaluated as a strategic cooperation model that can secure global competitiveness in a situation where AI capabilities are inferior compared to China, which holds massive data, and the US, which possesses world-class technology. Vice President Jeon said, "AI One Team is working on joint research and development (R&D) and cooperation to develop core AI technologies and cultivate experts. Specifically, KT is pushing open R&D with about 40 experts focusing on infectious disease spread prevention models, next-generation voice language processing, and machine learning-based industrial site efficiency."

Kang Sung, Senior Vice President of Kakao Enterprise, revealed strategies being pursued to stand shoulder to shoulder with the so-called AI global big five: Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook. Kang viewed that to have AI competitiveness, an ecosystem that can utilize algorithms, computing hardware such as GPUs, data, and AI through the cloud in various fields is essential. He cited Kakao's partner ecosystem, global top-level talent development, and services used by the entire population such as KakaoTalk as strengths, emphasizing, "In 10 years, we will definitely stand shoulder to shoulder with, or even surpass, global AI giants." In particular, the goal is to enable the entire population to easily learn and widely use AI through services like KakaoTalk.

Lee Kyung-woon, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics, introduced the status of world-class AI technology research and development. He revealed the human-centered AI research vision along with seven global research centers operating to solve challenges such as pandemics and disasters. Samsung Electronics is evaluated as leading the 'implementation of human-centered AI' by integrating AI into various products such as semiconductors, smartphones, and home appliances. It is expected to be a case that secures world-class AI technology, enhances social value through AI, and creates new markets and technologies.

Finally, SK Telecom presented its self-developed AI semiconductor for data centers to President Moon and announced its future vision for the AI semiconductor business. The AI semiconductor, which corresponds to the core brain of AI, is a non-memory semiconductor that executes large-scale computations required for AI service implementation at ultra-high speed and low power. Kim Yoon, CTO (Vice President) of SK Telecom, unveiled the AI semiconductor 'SAPEON X220,' calling it "an achievement made possible through SK Telecom's technological and service capabilities, active government support, and cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises." Starting with this, SK Telecom plans to lead the realization of the 'No. 1 AI nation' declared by the Moon Jae-in administration and to preoccupy the global AI semiconductor market, expected to grow to about 50 trillion KRW by 2024.

◆"National Capabilities Concentrated to Secure AI Hegemony" Government's Will Reconfirmed

In his opening remarks, President Moon mentioned that the past year was a year in which the public and private sectors worked tirelessly together to leap forward as a strong AI nation. After first revealing the AI vision in October last year, he personally presided over the Cabinet meeting in December of the same year to announce the AI national strategy. In the first government work report held in January this year, the Ministry of Science and ICT reported, "We will make 2020 the first year toward becoming the No. 1 AI nation." The national project 'Korean New Deal,' currently being promoted to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era, also has AI as a major pillar.

This event is also evaluated as a place where the president's will to concentrate national capabilities to secure AI hegemony was reaffirmed. The background was the sense of crisis that AI will open the door to a super-intelligent society and change politics, economy, and society as a whole. AI has already rapidly penetrated every aspect of life, including manufacturing, finance, logistics, and services. In short, it was a moment to review the past year and drive AI to secure new growth momentum.

The event was attended by KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo, Naver CEO Han Seong-sook, Kakao Enterprise CEO Baek Sang-yeop, LG Uplus President (Consumer Business General Manager) Hwang Hyun-sik, and Samsung Electronics President Lee In-yong.