Samsung Opens AI Centers in the U.K., Canada, Russia

Samsung Research, the advanced R&D hub of Samsung Electronics' SET (end-products) Business, plans to establish three artificial intelligence (AI) centers in Cambridge, the U.K. (May 22), Toronto, Canada (May 24) and Moscow, Russia (May 29) to strengthen the company’s AI capabilities and explore the potential of user-centric AI.

Samsung Research has led the latest effort of Samsung Electronics to expand the global AI research capabilities, seeking to converge its AI expertise with the creation of the new AI centers.

Samsung Research also oversaw the creation of the new AI centers in Seoul last November and in Silicon Valley in January. With the addition of the three new AI centers, Samsung Research will operate five AI centers around the world. 

Also, by securing global AI experts, Samsung Research plans to expand its number of advanced AI researchers to a total of about 1,000 globally by 2020.

“Samsung has a long history of pursuing innovation and we are excited to be bringing that same passion and technology leadership to AI,” said Hyun-suk Kim, president and head of Samsung Research at the opening ceremony of the new AI center in Cambridge. "With the new AI centers and recruitment of leading experts in the field, our aim is to become a game changer for the AI industry.”

The Samsung AI Center-Cambridge will be led by Andrew Blake, previously director of Microsoft’s Cambridge Laboratory, and a pioneer in the development of the theory and algorithms that can make it possible for computers to behave as seeing machines. 

“This new center signifies our commitment to the advancement of AI,” said Andrew Blake. “Our research will help us to better understand human behavior, while exploring areas like emotion recognition, and further expand the boundaries of user-centric communication to develop AI technologies that ultimately improve people’s lives.”

Samsung AI Center-Toronto will be led by Dr. Larry Heck, senior vice president of Samsung Research America (SRA), and an expert in virtual personal assistant technologies and also the leader of the SRA AI Center. The AI Center in Toronto will bolster its research efforts in core AI technologies with strategic cooperation from major universities in Canada.

Samsung AI Center-Moscow is expected to capitalize on Russia’s expertise in mathematics, physics and other fundamental sciences. It plans to include leading AI experts such as Professor Dmitry Vetrov (Higher School of Economics) and Professor Victor Lempitsky (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology) to lead its research on AI algorithms.

In its vision for AI, Samsung focuses on five core aspects to drive its research. These include AI that is: “user centric,” realizing personalization through a multi-modal interface; “always learning,” through continuous self-learning from data; “always there,” as an ambient service; “always helpful,” with minimization of user intervention and response to requests; and “always safe,” ensuring user safety and privacy.

In the coming years, Internet of Things (IoT) devices embedded with AI will generate a vast array of data that can provide fascinating insights about the lives of users, enabling them to take advantage of intelligent services optimized for their own personal preferences and behaviors. How AI-enabled devices provide consumers with the most optimized options will be critical to the success of AI technology for the near future.