Samsung's three new AI research centers are just the beginning

Samsung's SVP, head of global research Larry Heck, who joined the company from Google last November, says the new centers represent an acknowledgement that we're still in the early stages of AI, and there are some grand scientific challenges to be solved so that more people actually start using AI every day: "These challenges are going to need the top AI talent in the world to solve them, so what we recognized is that we need to go to where the talent is," says Heck. "Toronto is a world-leading center for research, specifically in deep learning and computer vision, and similarly are Moscow and Cambridge. These are the first three, but we'll be expanding and opening more." The three new centers join Samsung's existing AI-research labs in Seoul and Mountain View, CA. While it does represent a significant boost in the company's AI investment, don't expect the results to land in your new phone next year. Heck says the work at these centers will be tackling advanced research problems, far out in front to provide a path forward for Bixby and their other AI efforts.