Honor of China to Unveil AI Deepfake Detection Technology
LG Uplus Highlights 'Safe Intelligence' as a Core Theme
SK Telecom to Feature Governance Principles as Main Theme
Visitors attending last year's 'Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024' are viewing the exhibition at the SKT booth. Photo by Joint Press Corps
From March 3 to 6 next month, companies participating in the world's largest mobile exhibition, 'Mobile World Congress 2025 (MWC25)' held in Barcelona, Spain, will prominently showcase artificial intelligence (AI) safety technologies. In particular, China's 'Honor,' the number one company in the Western European foldable phone market, will introduce innovative technology that detects AI deepfakes during real-time video calls, aiming to secure 'AI reliability.' Domestic mobile carriers will also unveil advanced AI security technologies in large numbers, entering the global competition.
MWC25 is expected to serve as a testing ground to gauge how to harmonize the two conflicting goals of AI technology development and safety, following the '3rd AI Summit' held last month in Paris. Since 'DeepSeek' shocked the global market, the differing stances of various countries on AI technology and concerns about technological advancement have intertwined, setting the stage to foresee how global AI cooperation and competition will unfold.
"Reliability is Competitiveness"…Companies Leading with Safety Technologies
Chinese smartphone manufacturer 'Honor' plans to demonstrate AI deepfake detection technology at this year's MWC and will unveil its AI strategy called the 'Honor Alpha Plan.' Source=Honor Facebook
According to the IT industry on the 24th, Honor, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer spun off from Huawei, plans to showcase 'AI deepfake detection' technology that identifies AI-manipulated faces during real-time video calls at this MWC. Honor will demonstrate technology that protects users by detecting facial alterations in real time, under the message 'from doubt to trust.' Honor surpassed Samsung Electronics to become the number one in the Western European foldable smartphone market starting from the second quarter of last year.
Honor's move is interpreted as an attempt to resolve the issue of technological trustworthiness recently faced by Chinese AI companies. Chinese AI services such as DeepSeek have raised concerns about personal information protection and data security, necessitating a cautious approach in the global market. Accordingly, Chinese mobile companies like Huawei are likely to focus on securing safety and reliability beyond merely showcasing technological prowess at this MWC.
Domestic mobile carriers participating in MWC also emphasize AI safety technology as a core strategy. LG Uplus will open a solo exhibition hall for the first time at this MWC, presenting 'Safe Intelligence' as the key theme. LG Uplus has prepared a large exhibition hall about the size of two basketball courts (approximately 240 pyeong) in the center of Exhibition Hall 3, showcasing numerous AI security technologies including its self-developed communication-specialized AI model ‘Exigen,’ quantum-resistant encryption technology, and ‘Anti-DeepVoice,’ which detects deepfake voices to prevent voice phishing. SK Telecom (SKT) will also feature its AI governance principle ‘T.H.E. AI’ as the main exhibition theme. Last year, SKT became the first domestic telecom company to obtain international standard certification for 'AI Management System,' jointly established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
AI Giants Also Speak in One Voice for a 'Safe AI Ecosystem'
Key figures in the global AI industry are also expected to present concrete solutions for securing AI safety and ethics through MWC. Aravind Srinivas, CEO of AI search engine startup 'Perplexity,' nicknamed the 'Next-Generation Google,' will discuss AI ethics and reliability measures in a dialogue with Irene Gomez, CEO of 'Wayra.' Perplexity received a $10 million (approximately 1.44 billion KRW) equity investment from SKT last year, and the two leaders are anticipated to discuss strategic cooperation in the AI search field at this MWC.
Ray Kurzweil, well known for his book 'The Singularity Is Near,' which heralded the AI era, will highlight ethical issues such as personal data handling and security in an era where AI and humans coexist. Kurzweil, a futurist and Google engineering director, emphasized in his book that "AI safety depends not on technology but on human institutions managing it," advocating for mandatory ethical standards and safety measures in AI development processes and the establishment of systems to evaluate the societal impact of technology.
These discussions will continue at the 'GSMA Ministerial Program,' the highest-level policy forum at MWC. In the session titled 'Can AI Be Trusted?', participants including Qualcomm’s Senior Vice President Wasim Chourbaji, Jerry Shih-Han, Director of the OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Directorate, and Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT Innovation of Rwanda, will explore government and corporate cooperation strategies to build a safe and fair digital ecosystem.
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