Interviews

LG ThinQ : Everything you need to know about LG’s AI platform


In a previous article we did on LG’s OLED TVs, we mentioned how the TVs boast of advanced AI capabilities thanks to the company’s ThinQ platform. ThinQ is LG’s own artificial intelligence technology to be employed in smart, connected home appliances.

With the embedded AI, viewers or consumers can interact directly to the remote control by voice and access ultra-convenient features of the Google voice assistant technology.

DeepThinQ was first unveiled to the world by LG last year. A year later, during Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018, the company launched an all-new range of products under the name LG ThinQ. This trend is expected to go throughout the year meaning all future LG products might feature this technology.

So what exactly is DeepThinQ and what products does it relate to. We posed some questions to Moses Marji, the LG General Manager for Marketing East Africa on this. Here’s what he had to say:

Q1. In 2017, you announced DeepThinQ, your own artificial intelligence technology to be employed in smart, connected home appliances. Why was this so necessary?

LG Electronics announced the creation of the ‘ThinQ’ brand to identify all of its 2018 home appliances, consumer electronics and services that utilize artificial intelligence. LG ThinQ

products and services will all have the ability to employ deep learning and communicate with one another, utilizing a variety of AI technologies from other partners as well as LG’s own AI technology, DeepThinQ.

Products developed on the DeepThinQ platform product educate themselves using cloud servers to become smarter over time. This learning feature is at the heart of DeepThinQ, allowing LG AI products to understand not only their external environments but also the behavioral patterns of their customers

DeepThinQ was developed at 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. Furthermore, 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.

DeepThinQ boasts AI functions such as voice, video and sensor recognition and space and human body detection, developed with data gleaned from usage habits of LG customers over the years. DeepThinQ was designed from the ground up with openness and diversification in mind, supporting a variety of operating platforms such as Android, Linux, and webOS.

LG is on a quest to innovate for a better life and we believe that AI is not only the future of convenient living but also a means by which people and countries can save time, money and resources to achieve heightened levels of satisfaction and sustainability.

Q2. For people who really don’t understand DeepThinQ. Which simple language would you use to describe it?

DeepThinQ is the embodiment of LG Electronics’ open philosophy – to provide the most powerful AI solutions to our customers via a strategy of open platform, open partnership and open connectivity.

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.

Q3. What products are in the LG ThinQ family?

Most of the new products under the LG ThinQ brand launched or were teased at CES 2018.

There is an LG Dualcool ThinQ Stand Invertor air conditioner that features voice control so owners can control the air flow from a different room. And it adopts LG’s DeepThinQ AI technology to direct more airflow towards individuals in a room using spatial recognition. It can also adjust the strength of airflow thanks to sensors that know how close individuals are to the device.

The LG ThinQ range also features the 2018 OLED and Super UHD TVs which have DeepThinQ AI built-in which will add voice control and recognition via an included remote control.

There will be a ThinQ Google Assistant-enabled speaker and a selection of smart robots for the home and businesses.

Q4. ThinQ is probably something we might be seeing in all your future products. What are/will be some of its common uses and/or application?

With LG ThinQ, “live and learn” takes on a whole new meaning. Products developed on the DeepThinQ platform educate themselves using cloud servers to become smarter over time. This learning feature is at the heart of DeepThinQ, allowing LG AI products to understand not only their external environments but also the behavioral patterns of their customers.

For example, LG ThinQ air conditioner learns customers’ living patterns over time and cools the room automatically to the temperature preferred by the occupant. Eventually, ThinQ will be able to automatically adjust the music, lighting or climate inside the car by learning about the passengers who most often occupy the car.

Q5. LG ThinQ is a new brand from LG that groups together premium appliances and consumer electronics under the one banner. Briefly explain this.

Products that carry the ThinQ branding will be artificially intelligent, able to communicate with each other and employ LG’s own deep learning technology in order to better understand your habits and needs.

Q6. The future of Artificial Intelligence looks bright and every technology company seem to be adopting it. What is LG doing to make its consumers, especially in the local market more aware about the technology, apart from just releasing ThinQ?

LG is constantly innovating its product offering and educating its current and potential customers about these developments. Every market is unique and we will be developing plans to communicate the benefits of ThinQ to each in the most creative and comprehensive way.

Well, there you go? Have any questions about this AI technology? Feel free to drop us a comment in the comments section below.

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Nixon Kanali

Tech journalist based in Nairobi. I track and report on tech and African startups. Founder and Editor of TechTrends Media. Nixon is also the East African tech editor for Africa Business Communities. Send tips to nkanali@techtrendske.co.ke.

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