Global scholars discuss AI’s future at Samsung forum

Global scholars and artificial intelligence experts discussed the future of AI, semiconductors, and the use of the technology in everyday life at this year's Samsung AI Forum that kicked off Monday.

During the two-day event, renowned academics including Turing Award winners Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun, and AMD Chief Technology Officer Joseph Macri, shared their research advancements in AI and computer engineering.

“AI is changing our lives at a surprising speed, and as it gets stronger, how to use AI responsibly has become an important question. Samsung Electronics will do its best to establish a more efficient and sustainable AI ecosystem,” Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee said in the opening speech on Monday.

Samsung has been holding the annual forum exploring AI technology since 2017.

The first day of the event, organized by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, ran under the theme of “Sustainable Innovation with AI and Semiconductors."

Bengio, an expert in deep learning technology and professor at the University of Montreal, underscored the importance of building a safer AI system using Bayesian Oracles, according to Samsung.

Bayesian Oracles are an advanced statistical model for collecting and analyzing data using Bayesian methods, which enable effective decision-making in complex environments by updating predictions as new data becomes available.

Sharing research showing the risks of AI’s performance surpassing human capabilities in a variety of fields, the professor cited labor market disruption, hacking, and the rise of superintelligence as potential threats in the AI era.

"Policymakers and the public must understand AI’s current state and future potential, for AI safety," Bengio said, adding that they should align AI’s behavior and goals with human values, and build stronger collaborative ties among countries and companies to design safe AI systems.

LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist and a professor at New York University, discussed the current limitations of large language models, and explained ways the technology can be developed further to reach human levels of intelligence, Samsung said.

AMD CTO Macri also spoke at the event to share his company's AI solutions and the importance of collaborative AI platforms.

Macri's participation at Samsung's forum heightens anticipation for further collaboration between Samsung and AMD, as the two companies have been seen forging new deals. Samsung is supplying its cutting-edge HBM3E chips to AMD and it has also purchased AMD's next-generation graphic processing units, according to industry sources.

On the second day of the event held at Samsung's R&D campus in Seoul, the tech giant reaffirmed its leadership in AI technology for mobile devices and home appliances.

“Device AI is rapidly advancing with the growth of generative AI technology, and we hope this forum serves as a platform to explore new possibilities in the AI era,” Kim Dae-hyun, vice president at Samsung Research, said.

Ian Horrocks, a professor at Oxford University and the co-founder of Oxford Semantics Technology, spoke about the significance of knowledge graphs, the technology that organizes and processes data similarly to human memory.

Samsung acquired the UK startup in July, with the goal of securing advanced core engines for personal knowledge graphs. Samsung said it seeks to utilize OST's technology to craft a "tailor-made" user experience.

In his presentation, Horrocks showcased applications in search and recommendation and proposed approaches for implementing personalized services with flexible data models and logical inference.

At the event, Samsung also hosted a ceremony to announce the winners of the Samsung AI Researcher of the Year award to five recipients, including Shuran Song, a Stanford University professor. Song was recognized for her research on AI-driven robotics and the development of algorithms for 3D modeling recognition and reasoning, the company said.