KDCA official Na Seong-woong (left) and SKT AI service head Lee Hyun-ah hold an MOU certificate at the KDCA headquarters in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. SK Telecom, South Korea's top telecom company, is utilizing its artificial intelligence technology to support the country's health authority in monitoring recipients after COVID-19 vaccination, it said Thursday. Dubbed NUGU Vaccine Carecall, SKT's NUGU AI platform will provide guidance to those subject to vaccination through calls, and monitor any abnormal signs after shots are administered. The telecom company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Thursday. Under the MOU, medical institutions will register their lists of recipients on the NUGU Vaccine Carecall website.

The novel coronavirus is the most significant public health and economic risk that the world has faced in nearly a century. It has infected more than 65 million people and killed more than 1.5 million. The economic damage from the disruption is expected to be the worst decline in global GDP since the Great Depression. Facing a new public health and economic crisis South Korea utilized lessons from its recent experience dealing with the MERS outbreak of 2015, but also integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into its response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In early January the coronavirus was largely contained to China.

South Korea pledged to invest about $1 billion for artificial intelligence in semiconductor manufacturing to build on the nation's success developing computer chips to power economic growth. President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday at a meeting of South Korea's top tech executives in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, that his administration is prepared to improve regulations on artificial intelligence and provide a road map for innovation, EDaily and News 1 reported. "Countries around the world are competing to dominate in artificial intelligence," Moon said. "South Korea's dream is to become a leader [in the sector] in the post-pandemic era." Moon also said Korea has applied AI for public use, and that Seoul will work to open an "AI era" that would allow South Koreans to enjoy the benefits of innovation in their daily lives.

A self-driving robot is now going rounds the lobby of SK Telecom, South Korea's largest mobile operator, to ensure social distancing and provide disinfectants. With cameras and an LED screen, the robot checks their temperature, dispenses hand sanitizer, disinfects the floor, and greets visitors to "take part in social distancing." Created by SK Telecom and Omron Electronics Korea, the robot provides an industrial automation solution and transmits data to its server in real-time, according to Reuters. It is powered by SK's fifth-generation (5G) technology. Korea has long been using robotics for tasks, including manufacturing and cleaning.

As South Korea eased COVID-19 restrictions, a mobile operator company in the country is reportedly using a robot to reduce human contact and maintain sanitation in the building. According to an international media outlet, a self-driving robot equipped with cameras and an LED screen greets visitors at the lobby of the firm. The robots also check the temperature of the employees and also dispenses hand sanitiser and disinfect the floor. The white robot politely also reminds people to'take part in social distancing'. Several corporate companies in South Korea have now reportedly been using robotic for tasks including manufacturing and cleaning.

Seoul – In a cramped office in eastern Seoul, Hwang Seungwon points a remote control toward a huge NASA-like overhead screen stretching across one of the walls. With each flick of the control, a colorful array of pie charts, graphs and maps reveals the search habits of thousands of South Korean senior citizens being monitored by voice-enabled "smart" speakers, an experimental remote care service the company says is increasingly needed during the coronavirus crisis. "We closely monitor for signs of danger, whether they are more frequently using search words that indicate rising states of loneliness or insecurity," said Hwang, director of a social enterprise established by SK Telecom to handle the service. Trigger words lead to a recommendation for a visit by local public health officials. As South Korea's government pushes to allow businesses to access vast amounts of personal information and to ease restrictions holding back telemedicine, tech firms could potentially find much bigger markets for their artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) and SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) today announced that SK Telecom has adopted Xilinx Alveo Datacenter Accelerator cards to power a real-time AI-based physical intrusion and theft detection service. SK Telecom's AI inference accelerator (AIX) implemented on Xilinx Alveo cards provides efficient and accurate physical intrusion detection using deep neural networks. SK Telecom's AI-based physical intrusion detection service, T viewTM, monitors hundreds of thousands of customers' commercial and home camera systems in real-time and dispatches security guards under physical intrusion circumstances. Processing a large volume of data from thousands of cameras using deep neural networks necessitates a powerful AI accelerator that can provide enough throughput and accuracy. T view uses SK Telecom's AI inference accelerator (AIX), implemented on Xilinx Alveo U250 cards.

SK Telecom has completed the development of the smart braille educating system running on its Nugu voice-activated artificial intelligence (AI) speaker to help the visually impaired learn braille much more easily, the company said Monday. The nation's top mobile carrier has cooperated with Ohfa Tech, a developer of the braille teaching device, Taptilo. The telecom company will offer 110 devices to schools for the blind and households within the month and verify the effectiveness of the system in cooperation with Kangnam University. The number of people who are visually impaired is estimated at about 300,000 in Korea, and 95 percent of these people are not able to read braille due to the shortage of specialist teachers, according to SK Telecom. The development of the braille educating system utilizing the AI speaker is expected to lower barriers to education for the visually impaired through innovative technology, it said.

SK Telecom announced on Saturday that it has switched on its commercial 5G network, marking the occasion with a call from CEO Park Jung-ho in Bundang to Myeondong, using a Samsung 5G smartphone prototype. SK Telecom's 5G network currently covers main areas of 13 cities and counties nationwide. Mischievously, we would like to think the call went something like "Hello, can anyone hear me? There's no-one there…" That's the problem with launching a brand new network technology – penetration levels are somewhat low. Actually, that first call over its commercial 5G network was made between CEO Park located in Bundang, Gyeonggi-do and SK Telecom Manager Park Sook-hee located in Myeongdong, Seoul.

Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) is sitting on a massive opportunity thanks to the growing demand for its chips in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The chipmaker controls the majority of the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) market -- chips that are finding traction in AI applications -- by successfully keeping rival Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) at bay on the back of solid product development moves. But AI is just one of the reasons why you should consider Xilinx for your portfolio. The chipmaker pays a dividend that's well above the tech sector's average yield of 1.11%, and it has been increasing every year since 2011. But with Intel breathing down its neck, will Xilinx be able to sustain the growth of its dividend?