‘Super Cooperative Achievement’ SKT-Samsung-Kakao to Launch ‘Pandemic Overcoming AI’

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] SK Telecom, Samsung Electronics, and Kakao, three leading ICT companies in Korea, will unveil the first fruits of their 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) Super-Cooperation' early next year. This achievement comes about a year after SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho boldly proposed cross-industry super-cooperation. Considering the severe impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the national economy and society, these three companies decided to first release AI aimed at early overcoming of COVID-19 and public interest.

On the 22nd, SK Telecom, Samsung Electronics, and Kakao announced their cooperation in developing AI technology for the pandemic era. By combining each company's core competencies, they will jointly promote ▲future AI technology development ▲research on AI utilization to solve social challenges ▲expansion of AI technology base. To this end, an 'AI Research and Development (R&D) Council' was formed, involving Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) or AI-specialized executives.

◆One Year After Super-Cooperation Proposal... First Joint Product is Pandemic Overcoming AI

The first joint product to be unveiled in the first half of next year is the 'Pandemic Overcoming AI.' This AI identifies the COVID-19 risk situation around the current location in real time, analyzes the risk level, and recommends social distancing or guides detour routes to users. Unlike existing disaster alerts that mainly report occurrences, this AI predicts the risk level around the user and their future movement paths to provide customized information. It can also be applied in disaster situations such as typhoons and heavy rain.

For example, if a confirmed case occurs at Euljiro 1(il)-ga Station, the AI analyzes data showing that 20% of the 800 people in the area moved to Yeoksam-dong, classifying Euljiro 1(il)-ga as high risk and Yeoksam-dong as medium risk. Based on this, the AI recommends users commuting through Euljiro 1(il)-ga to use private cars and advises users who booked a movie theater in Yeoksam-dong to practice social distancing. In this process, the AI refines regional risk analysis using big data on floating populations and public disaster information, and provides predictive information to users based on individual schedules recorded on smartphones, flight tickets, performance and accommodation reservations, and usual movement paths.

The three companies plan to evolve the AI to analyze related news and enable Q&A functionality. Core functions and technologies will be developed in API form and made available to developers, research institutions, and companies. By maximizing public interest, it is expected to lead to the expansion of the domestic AI ecosystem. Yoo Sang-young, SK Telecom MNO Business Head, emphasized, "The cooperation among the three companies will be an important momentum for Korea to secure global AI competition leadership and contribute to building a social safety net in the Republic of Korea."

◆Top Leaders in Each Field United... Opens Possibility for Future Cooperation with Other Companies

The AI super-cooperation among the three companies began in January this year at CES 2020, the world's largest IT exhibition held in Las Vegas, USA, when SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho stated, "To gain leadership in the global AI war, cooperation rather than competition among domestic companies is necessary." The companies he mentioned as targets for AI super-cooperation were Samsung Electronics and Kakao.

The unprecedented super-cooperation among the top leaders in each field is analyzed to stem from a sense of crisis that domestic companies cannot compete individually against global ICT giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple (GAFA). The long-held belief among the three companies that new ICT technologies can solve social problems and create new value also laid the foundation for the super-cooperation's success.

In particular, the three companies are confident that combining their strengths in mobile communications, smart devices, and messenger platforms, along with years of advanced AI technology development, can elevate domestic AI technology to a global top level in a short period.

After the super-cooperation proposal, a joint working group was formed around March, and CTO-level workshops have been held regularly every two weeks. Online meetings of practical planning and development teams were also held frequently to specify core cooperation tasks and development directions. Discussions that had been conducted quietly for nearly a year are now coming to light.

Starting with the pandemic overcoming AI, the three companies will continue AI research cooperation to solve social challenges ranging from aging to infectious diseases. They are open to cooperation across all ICT fields without limitation. The door is also open for participation by other domestic operators. ICT companies wishing to cooperate and join the alliance will be welcomed with an open mind. Plans to expand the scale to a global AI alliance level are also under consideration.

Samsung Electronics CEO Roh Tae-moon added, "Starting from solving the social challenge of overcoming the pandemic, this project will provide foundational technology components widely usable in industry and academia, contributing to the domestic AI ecosystem in the long term." Kakao CEO Yeo Min-soo emphasized, "We will continue to contribute to solving social problems through technology."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.