LG is already gearing up to disrupt Artificial Intelligence technology space
The just concluded CES 2018 saw many innovators try to outdo each other on just how “intelligent” their products are, with self-driving cars and robots dominating many display booths.
Yet one of the most memorable moment for many tech enthusiasts at CES 2018 was when LG’s robot CLOi decided to develop an attitude and ignore commands.
While many saw this as an embarrassing moment, it may as well have been a clue as to what the Korean company had in store for its own future of AI technology. In other words, CLOi’s apparent lack of cooperation might have been a good thing and a sign that it is time for companies to change their approach to integrating AI technology to their products.
As it stands right now, much of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is highly dependent on voice recognition and voice control of smart devices. Google and Amazon have already dominated this area and it was therefore not unexpected that many companies featuring these AI technologies had to partner with these two giants to achieve their goals.
But if any of the recent corporate wars between the AI giants Google and Amazon is anything to go by, the coming years are about to get rough, and LG already has a contingency in play.
The close of 2017 saw Google decide to withdraw its YouTube app from all Amazon video-streaming platforms, such as the popular Fire TV. This essentially meant that anyone who owned an Amazon device could no longer install and use the YouTube app.
Now, imagine a similar war between Amazon and the many partners it has utilizing the Alexa AI technology. This would mean that in the event Amazon withdraws its services, the technology will be rendered useless.
This could be one of the central reasons why LG Electronics is developing its proprietary deep learning-based artificial intelligence technology with the rollout of its own AI development tool to all LG business divisions.
DeepThinQ 1.0 was developed last year with the establishment of LG’s Artificial Intelligence Lab in Korea to accelerate research into AI. The platform enables easy integration of AI into a wider range of products, allowing LG product developers to apply deep-learning technologies to future products.
“DeepThinQ is the embodiment of our open philosophy – to provide the most powerful AI solutions to our customers via a strategy of open platform, open partnership and open connectivity,” said Dr. I.P. Park, Ph.D. Chief Technology Officer at LG Electronics. “ThinQ will completely change the way consumers use our products because ThinQ products will learn about them to provide intelligent services, not the other way around.”
In line with the open strategy of its recently announced AI brand ThinQ, LG products developed with DeepThinQ – from mobile devices to home appliances – will deliver a comprehensive user experience by linking a host of technologies and solutions to its state-of-the-art AI platform.
Owning your own AI platform means that all the restrictions to innovation that come with partnering for AI, are immediately eliminated. This essentially means that LG can now dare to go wild with the possibilities out there for AI, without worrying about Google or Amazon’s terms and conditions for the same technology.
This move is definitely going to shape the look and feel of CES in the future. The move also sets apart LG as a thought leader in the AI technology space, breaking the limitations that come with corporate collaborations and freeing the innovative spirit to reach even higher horizons.
