[Samsung AI Forum 2021] Day 1: AI Research for Tomorrow

A host of world-renowned academics and researchers from Samsung Electronics, innovative startups and wider industry came together to share their insights on the future of artificial intelligence at Samsung AI Forum.

Now in its fifth year, Samsung AI Forum serves as a platform that gathers leading experts to exchange the latest technology trends and research findings. The two-day event held on 1 and 2 November (KST) enabled participants to discuss applications of AI that will make a practical contribution to people’s daily lives. In this year’s AI Forum livestreamed on Samsung Electronics’ YouTube channel, there were opportunities for researchers and students in the AI field around the world to interact with world-renowned academics and experts through Q&A sessions.

Day 1 of Samsung AI Forum was hosted by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Samsung’s R&D hub dedicated to cutting-edge future technologies, under the theme, “AI Research for Tomorrow”.

Day 1 started with opening remarks from Dr. Kinam Kim, Vice Chairman & CEO of Device Solutions at Samsung Electronics, who spoke about the wide-reaching capability of AI to address pressing global issues.

“The advancement of AI is going beyond the electronics industry and expanding to various fields, such as basic science. We expect AI to provide solutions to social issues such as climate change and environmental pollution in the future, but there are still many challenges to tackle to make this possible,” said Dr. Kim.

He also shared his optimism that Samsung AI Forum will be a key venue for experts across the industry to start conversations and collaborate on AI as a means to help humanity on various fronts.

Shining a Spotlight on AI Leaders

Also on Day 1 of Samsung AI Forum, the company announced this year’s winners of the ‘Samsung AI Researcher of the Year’ awards. The awards were launched last year to discover rising AI researchers globally. The awards were presented by Dr. Gyoyoung Jin, President and Head of SAIT, who served as the co-chair for Samsung AI Forum.

This year’s awards went to Professor Diyi Yang (Georgia Tech), Professor Jacob Andreas (MIT), Professor Judy Hoffman (Georgia Tech), Professor Phillip Isola (MIT) and Professor Yarin Gal (Oxford).

“It’s an honor for me to receive the award presented by Samsung to young researchers in the AI field,” said Professor Phillip Isola of MIT. “I’ll put more effort to further develop the current AI system to realize AI that is close to natural intelligence,” he said. Professor Isola is one of the most prominent researchers in computer vision.

Expert Highlights: Keynote Speeches

The keynote on the first day of Samsung AI Forum was given by Professor Yoshua Bengio of University of Montreal, who also served as a co-chair of Samsung AI Forum and is a Samsung AI Professor. In his keynote, entitled GFlowNets for Scientific Discovery, Professor Bengio introduced AI algorithms used within scientific fields such as physics, chemistry and biology. He presented a new algorithm called GFlowNets, which is used to increase the prediction accuracy of experiment and test data.

The keynote lecture was followed by three technology sessions entitled Scalable & Sustainable AI Computing, AI for Scientific Discovery and Trustworthy Computer Vision. In these sessions, leading academics and startups spoke alongside some of Samsung’s top researchers.

Professor Kunle Olukotun of Stanford University in the U.S., who is the co-founder of a promising AI startup called SambaNova Systems, shared his insights on ultra-low power AI computing through an effective data flow architecture in his lecture, Accelerating AI with Dataflow Computing.

Professor Gerbrand Ceder of University of California – Berkeley, who is the founding director of the U.S. federal government-led Material Genome Initiative, which began ten years ago, gave his lecture on AI/Machine Learning in Material Research and the Laboratory of the Future. Professor Antonio Torralba of MIT in Massachusetts, U.S., gave his lecture, Learning to See.

From Samsung, multiple leading researchers, including Changkyu Choi, Senior Vice President and Head of SAIT’s AI & SW Research Center presented the progress and vision regarding Samsung’s research in the AI field. The speakers introduced various AI learning model developments and their applications, and suggested the memory-powered computing architecture, including engineering ultra-low power AI computing for processing AI models and big data.

In addition, founders of startups based in Silicon Valley, including Cerebras Systems shared their insights on business models for different AI research areas and future business strategies.

‘Samsung AI Forum 2021′ can be viewed again on Samsung Electronics’ YouTube channel, and Day 2 AI forum will be held on 2 November.

Stay tuned to Samsung Newsroom for more information on the Samsung AI Forum 2021.