SKT, Samsung, and Kakao Join Forces for 'Pandemic Overcoming AI' Joint Development

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The 'ICT Avengers' fighting against the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) pandemic have emerged. Three leading Korean ICT companies?SK Telecom, Samsung Electronics, and Kakao?will jointly unveil 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Pandemic Overcoming' in the first half of next year. This is the first fruit of bold cross-industry collaboration proposed about a year ago by SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho.

On the 22nd, SK Telecom, Samsung Electronics, and Kakao announced their decision to cooperate 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 methods to solve social challenges ▲and expansion of AI technology base. To this end, an 'AI Research and Development (R&D) Council' involving Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) or AI-specialized executives has also been formed.

The first joint product to be unveiled by the three companies in the first half of next year is pandemic-overcoming AI. This AI will identify the COVID-19 risk situation around the current location in real time, analyze the risk level, and recommend social distancing or guide detour routes to users.

For example, if a confirmed case occurs at Euljiro 1(il)-ga Station, the AI analyzes data showing that 20% of the 800 people present moved to Yeoksam-dong, classifying the risk level of Euljiro 1(il)-ga as high and Yeoksam-dong as medium. Based on this, the AI recommends users commuting to Euljiro 1(il)-ga to use private cars and advises users who reserved tickets at a Yeoksam-dong movie theater to practice social distancing.

Unlike existing disaster alerts that focus on reporting incidents, this AI predicts the risk levels around users and their future movement paths to provide customized information. It can also be applied in disaster situations such as typhoons and heavy rain.

The three companies, which began serious discussions on ultra-collaboration early this year, decided to first reveal AI for early COVID-19 overcoming and public interest, considering the severe impact of COVID-19 on the national economy and society. Starting with pandemic-overcoming AI, they will accelerate AI research cooperation to solve social challenges such as aging and fine dust, as well as expand the AI ecosystem. They also expressed openness to welcoming ICT companies wishing to cooperate or join the alliance.

Yu Sang-young, Head of SK Telecom's MNO Business, said, "This AI ultra-collaboration will be an important momentum for Korea to secure leadership in fierce global competition." Samsung Electronics President No Tae-moon added, "This project starts with solving the social challenge of overcoming the pandemic and will contribute 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.