Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today hosted the second day of the Samsung AI Forum 2023, which was led by Samsung Research and focused on generative AI. The rapid progress of generative AI technology is a paradigm shift that is expected to reshape both daily life and work. As such, the forum engaged AI experts from the industry and academia to discuss and share the development and the latest technological trends of AI, and introduced Samsung Gauss, the generative AI model developed by Samsung Research.

“We will continue to support and collaborate with the industry and academia on generative AI research.” said Daehyun Kim, Executive Vice President of the Samsung Research Global AI Center, in his welcoming speech.

During the first morning session, Dr. Hyung Won Chung from OpenAI — an AI research and deployment company — explained the operation of large language models (LLMs) during his speech, titled, “Large Language Models (in 2023)” and addressed the challenges they face at each stage, as well as their future trajectory.

Then Jason Wei, a researcher at OpenAI and author of the “Chain-of-Thoughts” paper, discussed how LLMs will drive a paradigm shift in AI through his presentation, “New Paradigms in the Large Language Model Renaissance.”

In addition, Korea University Professor Hongsuck Seo presented some of the trends in multimodal AI technology capable of processing various data types simultaneously — including text and images — during his session, “Towards multimodal conversational AI.”

In the afternoon, graduate students from prominent domestic universities that are active in AI research presented their papers, which have been published in leading international AI journals. They also outlined their future research directions.

The team led by Seoul National University Professor Seung-won Hwang showcased an efficient code generation and search technology using generative AI, while Professor Gunhee Kim’s team demonstrated spatial reasoning technology using multimodal approaches.

Professor Minjoon Seo’s team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) introduced fine-grained evaluation capability in language models. Additionally, the team led by Yonsei University Professor Jonghyun Choi presented on text-to-image generation technology capable of creating images by comprehending lengthy contexts across multiple sentences.

In the final session, the participants delved into Samsung Gauss and the On-Device AI technologies using this model. The model consists of Samsung Gauss Language, Samsung Gauss Code, and Samsung Gauss Image, and is named after Carl Friedrich Gauss, the legendary mathematician who established normal distribution theory, the backbone of machine learning and AI. Furthermore, the name reflects Samsung’s ultimate vision for the models, which is to draw from all the phenomena and knowledge in the world in order to harness the power of AI to improve the lives of consumers everywhere.

Samsung Gauss Language, a generative language model, enhances work efficiency by facilitating tasks such as composing emails, summarizing documents and translating content. It can also enhance the consumer experience by enabling smarter device control when integrated into products.

Samsung Gauss Code and a coding assistant (code.i) — which operates based on it — are optimized for in-house software development, allowing developers to code easily and quickly. It also supports functions such as code description and test case generation through an interactive interface.

In addition, Samsung Gauss Image is a generative image model that can easily generate and edit creative images, including style changes and additions, while also converting low-resolution images to high-resolution.

Samsung Gauss is currently used on employee productivity but will be expanded to a variety of Samsung product applications to provide new user experience in the near future.

Samsung is not only developing AI technologies, but also moving forward with various activities that ensure safe AI usage. Through the AI Red Team, Samsung continues to strengthen the ability to proactively eliminate and monitor security and privacy issues that may arise in the entire process — ranging from data collection to AI model development, service deployment and AI-generated results — all with the principles of AI ethics in mind.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today opened the Samsung AI Forum, at which it shared the latest research achievements in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer engineering (CE), contributing to enhancing the company’s next-generation semiconductor technology.

With over 1,000 attendees — including leading academics, industry experts, researchers, and students — day 1 of the seventh iteration of the Samsung AI Forum took place at the Suwon Convention Center in Gyeonggi-do, Korea, under the theme of “large-scale AI for a better tomorrow.” A two-day forum, the first day was hosted by the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), and day 2 will be hosted on November 8 by Samsung Research at the Samsung R&D campus in Seoul, Korea.

Kye Hyun Kyung, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) Division, said in his opening remarks, “The spotlight has recently shifted toward Generative AI technology, as it provides us the potential to unlock new solutions and address long-standing challenges. But the need for in-depth research on the safety, trustworthiness, and sustainability of AI is increasing at the same time.” About the event, Kyung added, “We expect this forum — where top global experts have gathered — will be a platform to discuss ways to create a brighter future through AI and semiconductor technologies.”

Safe Direction for AI Research Suggested; Future of LLM-Based Semiconductors Shared

▲ SAIF 2023 keynote speakers: (from left) Yoshua Bengio, professor at University of Montreal, Kye Hyun Kyung President and CEO of Samsung Electronics, Jim Keller, CEO of Tenstorrent

Yoshua Bengio, expert in deep learning technology and professor at the University of Montreal, shared his latest research in a keynote presentation titled, “Towards a Safe AI Scientist System.” He introduced a safe AI machine learning algorithm that can prevent large language models (LLMs) from developing in directions not intended by developers.

Jim Keller, CEO of AI semiconductor startup Tenstorrent, introduced the open instruction set architecture (ISA) RISC-V during his session titled, “Own Your Silicon,” and emphasized that RISC-V will create new possibilities in next-generation AI through innovation in hardware structure design.

Overall, day 1 of Samsung AI Forum 2023 addressed two key topics: LLMs and the Transformation of AI for Industry, and Large-scale Computing for LLMs and Simulation. The topics covered AI and CE, respectively.

With SAIT serving as the company’s R&D hub and incubator for cutting-edge technologies, SAIT researchers shared their visions on how the future of semiconductor development and manufacturing will change by integrating AI into all areas of semiconductors, and explored the possibilities of future computing in semiconductor processing, including large simulation accelerated by machine learning.

Accolades Presented to Exceptional Researchers and Students

During the forum, Samsung also hosted a ceremony to announce the winners of the Samsung AI Researcher Award and the Samsung AI/CE Challenge. The intent of these accolades is to honor up-and-coming researchers, university students and graduates who are excelling domestically.

Samsung AI Researcher of the Year awards were presented to five AI researchers: Professor Connor Coley at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Jason Lee at Princeton University, Professor Emma Pierson at Cornell University, Professor Xiang Ren at University of Southern California, Professor Virginia Smith at Carnegie Mellon University.

Among the honorees Professor Lee is focusing on theoretical and applied research including deep learning, reinforcement learning and optimization. In particular, his work was highly praised for its contribution to the development of AI research around the world through the publication of several outstanding papers on optimization.

The honor of winning the Samsung AI/CE Challenge, with submissions from 1,481 students comprising 410 teams, went to 16 teams.

Ph.D. student Keondo Park from the Seoul National University Graduate School of Data Science, a member of the grand-prize winning team, said, “In the course of implementing our AI project directly, we were able to explore deeply about possible problems. The AI/CE challenge was a good opportunity to broaden our horizons on research.”

Furthermore, SAIT presented a poster of leading research papers as well as exhibitions of research projects in AI and CE. It also prepared networking programs for attendees to engage in the vital AI and CE ecosystems.

The official video for Samsung AI Forum 2023 will be available on the Samsung Electronics YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@Samsung) from November 16th.

Samsung Electronics today announced that it will host the Samsung AI Forum 2023 on November 7 at the Suwon Convention Center in Gyeonggi-do, Korea. The forum serves as a platform to showcase the latest research achievements in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer engineering (CE), which will contribute to enhancing the company’s next-generation semiconductor technologies.

Samsung AI Forum 2023, which is being hosted by the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), will also focus on and highlight the direction of future research, with the presence of world-renowned AI scholars and industry experts. This seventh iteration of the Samsung AI Forum will be an in-person event, held under the theme of “large-scale AI for a better tomorrow.”

Kye Hyun Kyung, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics Device Solutions Division, will begin the forum with opening remarks, followed by keynotes from Yoshua Bengio, professor at the University of Montreal, and Jim Keller, CEO of AI semiconductor startup Tenstorrent.

Professor Satoshi Matsuoka of the Riken Institute of Computer Science in Japan, and Larry Zitnick, a research scientist from the Meta AI Research Lab will also be giving invited talks. In addition to these notable speakers, SAIT’s AI and CE research leaders — as well as leading academics from around the world — will share the status and vision of their research.

Samsung AI Forum 2023 will address two key topics: Large Language Models and Transformation of AI for Industry, and Large-scale Computing for Large Language Model and Simulation, which cover AI and CE, respectively.

During the forum, Samsung will also host a ceremony to announce the winners of the Samsung AI Researcher Award and the Samsung AI/CE Challenge. These accolades are intended to honor up-and-coming researchers, university students and graduates who are excelling domestically.

Furthermore, the forum will seek to vitalize the AI and CE research ecosystem by presenting posters of leading research papers and preparing networking programs for attendees.

“We believe AI- and CE-enhanced next generation semiconductor technology will play a pivotal role in improving the quality of life and SAIT has been working closely with academics and experts to seek Samsung’s new long-term growth drivers. We hope Samsung AI Forum will accelerate the expansion of the AI and CE research ecosystem around the world,” said Gyoyoung Jin, President of SAIT and Co-Chair of the Samsung AI Forum.

Registration will be available from October 12 on the Samsung AI Forum website, which allows attendees to pre-submit questions to the forum’s speakers.

Sven Dickinson, Head of Samsung’s Toronto AI Center

Can you imagine a world where the personal AI assistant on your smartphone is able to understand as much about the world as you do? What about a scenario where communicating with that AI assistant is as natural and easy as interacting with another human? Developing those kinds of capabilities is exactly what the team at Samsung’s AI Center in Toronto are putting their minds to.

Samsung Newsroom sat down with Sven Dickinson, Head of Samsung’s Toronto AI Center to learn more about these exciting topics and what they could mean for the future.

The Vision for Vision

The second Samsung AI center established in North America, Samsung’s Toronto AI Center is led by Dr. Sven Dickinson, an expert in computer vision and former chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto.

At the epicenter of AI research and development in Canada, Samsung’s Toronto AI Center is mainly focused on developing the visual understanding capabilities that allow a Samsung device to understand the world in which it’s situated. In addition, the team is working on multi-modal interactions, which are user-machine interactions that encapsulate vision, language and knowledge.

“Allowing Samsung devices to ‘see the world’ through computer vision enables them to ‘visually ground’ their dialog with the user, providing an integrated, multimodal experience that’s far more natural than one that’s solely vision or dialog-based” says Dickinson, whose expertise includes exploring problems surrounding shape perception and object recognition.

Touching on the benefits of multimodal technology, Dickinson claims that, “I should not have to read manuals to figure out which buttons to push on my device and in which order. Rather, I should be able to show my device what I want, and tell it what I want, in natural language that is understandable, and situated in the world that I live in.”

Extrapolating on the interplay between computer vision and multimodal inputs, he goes on to say that, “To achieve this breadth of comprehension, the device has to have a model of my understanding of the world, the capacity to communicate robustly and naturally with me, and the ability to see and understand the same world that I see.”

Remarking on applications for this technology, Dickinson identifies the most compelling as being “a personal assistant that you not only speak to, but that sees the world the same way that you do.” Speaking to the importance of multi-modal device interactions, Dickinson points out how much cancelling out one of the modes of communication (audio, speech, sight etc.) would hamper communication between two people, and says that also applies to personal devices.

A Truly Enhanced User Experience is Key

At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Samsung unveiled its vision for Connected Living, which involves connecting the 500 million devices the company sells every year, and making them intelligent. Dickinson highlights that Samsung’s broad product portfolio will be instrumental in fulfilling this vision, saying that, “What differentiates Samsung is that it makes a multitude of devices in the home, including digital appliances, TVs, and mobile phones. Samsung has a unique opportunity to leverage these devices to yield a multi-device experience which follows the user from one device to another, and one room to another. This will help realize the full potential of each device to effectively communicate, to help the user execute device-specific tasks, and to learn the user’s habits and preferences so that subsequent communication is not intrusive but instead ‘always helpful.’”

Speaking about what his center will need to do to truly realize computer vision and multimodal interaction, Dickinson comments that, “Vision is not about understanding images; vision is about understanding the world. Truly capable AI systems must possess an understanding of our world, of its physics and causality, of its geometry and dynamics. They must also be able to model and understand human behavior.” He extrapolates on this by pointing out that, “If our devices can see the 3D world that we live in the same way as we do, i.e., understand the 3D shapes, positions and identities of objects in our shared environment, then our devices can visually experience the world as we do. Such a shared visual context will be crucial in developing fully realized personal assistants.”

Dickinson says that Samsung is leading the charge when it comes to truly intelligent visual understanding, and identifies ‘visual grounding’ as an essential pre-requisite for well-rounded visual understanding capabilities. “Samsung is leading the way when it comes to developing human-device interaction that closely mimics human-human interaction,” Dickinson says, “We aim to provide visual grounding and knowledge representation scaffolding for dialog-based interaction services. Without these components in place, users become disappointed with services, and quickly tune out.”

 Human-device Interactions Based on Open Information Sharing 

Dickinson goes on to explain that AI also needs to be able to explain itself to the user. He remarks that, after failing to carry out a task or provide an appropriate response, “A device should be able to reflect to the user precisely how and why it came up with that response (or lack thereof). Ideally, it should be able to follow up with the user by asking a question or asking the user to adjust its camera or other input modes so that it can gather more information and formulate an appropriate response.” Dickinson relates that this kind of openness and information sharing will be key to the further sophistication of human-device interactions, noting that “What we call the domain of ‘active dialog and active vision’ is where the system can construct a mental model of what the user understands, and can, in turn, open up its own mental model so that the user can understand the thought processes of the device.”

The Benefits of Being Based in Toronto

Asked about how being based in Toronto affects the AI center, Dickinson remarks that the center enjoys a lot of benefits due to its close proximity to various world-class AI-related institutions, including the University of Toronto, York University and Ryerson University. “Being in Toronto offers us a tremendous regional advantage,” Dickinson comments, “We are across the street from the University of Toronto, home to the Department of Computer Science (DCS), which is one of the top-10 international computer science departments. Over half the members of our AI Center are either active faculty, graduates or current students at DCS.”

On the topic of collaboration between Samsung’s global AI centers, Dickinson relates that, “The seven global Samsung AI centers are working to create industry-leading solutions in their respective areas of focus, while coordinating to achieve the common goal that is realizing Samsung’s ultimate AI vision.” Dickinson touches on the topic of the Toronto AI center collaborating with other AI centers further, saying that, “We are starting to explore possible research collaborations with other global AI centers, and hope to converge on some use cases of value to Samsung and its products and services.”