Honglak Lee, Chief Scientist of AI (CSAI) at LG AI Research, participated in the World Knowledge Forum as speaker and discussed new opportunities in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

The World Knowledge Forum 2021 where Honglak Lee, CSAI of LG AI Research, participated.

At the World Knowledge Forum 2021, which was simultaneously conducted online and offline, Honglak Lee hosted a session held in Jangchung Arena located in Jangchung-dong, Seoul on September 16. The session was themed “New opportunities in the age of AI.” Gyeongmu Lee, Dean of the Graduate School of AI at Seoul National University (also a professor of the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering) and AI specialist representing South Korea, chaired the session with Honglak Lee of LG AI Research and Ted Sargent, a professor at the University of Toronto, giving presentations.

Various countries and global companies are taking the lead in creating innovation and markets utilizing AI. South Korea is also facing new challenges such as achieving qualitative growth and various industrial applications beyond the quantitative success it has achieved in the field of AI. In the session “New opportunities in the age of AI,” the speakers summarized the efforts and achievements made by the academic world and private companies so far in the field of AI research and development. The speakers also shared insights on what kind of changes and opportunities AI will create in our lives and across all industries, including what we have to prepare now to realize them.

The session where Honglak Lee, CSAI of LG AI Research, participated as speaker.

The session started with a presentation from Professor Ted Sargent. Professor Sargent gave a presentation on the subject “The revolution of developing materials informatics by using AI.” He talked about the aspects of development taking place in the field of material development, including the way AI is contributing to the development. According to the professor, through various AI technologies used to develop new materials, advancements are taking place across the material development industry using AI algorithms, and such is driving changes in various areas such as energy and home appliances.

Next, Honglak Lee gave a presentation on the subject “LG’s AI research to make the world a better place.” The presentation discussed the global AI trends, the importance of building a virtuous cycle of AI, and LG’s AI research dedicated to building such virtuous cycle.

Briefly mentioning the characteristics of major AI technologies that are rapidly developing such as reinforcement learning, generative models, and language models, Honglak Lee suggested the following elements that are essential for successful AI research and application in this rapid development of technology. He argued that the four elements—AI algorithm, computing infrastructure, data, and business model discovery—are essential. Honglak Lee explained that the internalization of AI technology is not using a model from somebody else but developing the inherent capabilities of AI.

Honglak Lee, CSAI at LG AI Research, at a World Knowledge Forum session on “New opportunities in the age of AI.”

He also argued that AI research needs to combine with AI business in order to produce business outcomes using AI and emphasized the importance of cooperation between companies and the academic world. In addition, he explained the virtuous cycle of AI, which is fundamental to the establishment of the AI ecosystem. It refers to a structure of continuous innovation wherein AI research is implemented in business to create innovative outcomes, which are then reinvested in AI research; thus leading to the expansion of infrastructure and collection of additional data. In other words, AI research and application in business need to occur simultaneously, forming a virtuous cycle.

As a case of such virtuous cycle of AI, Honglak Lee introduced AI research conducted by LG. Since its establishment in December last year, LG AI Research has developed good models with the goal of enhancing the AI algorithm while solving problems that have great business impacts and high technical difficulties as well as shared tasks together with various subsidiary companies. LG AI Research conducts basic research with high utility by analyzing the latest AI research trends and identifying the needs of subsidiary companies. At the same time, it conducts applied research, implementing the latest AI research in the industry.

He also shared that LG AI Research had declared the development of a super-giant AI in May this year, and that it will implement the super-giant AI in various products and services to increase customer value as well as various internal tasks of the company. The super-giant AI of LG AI Research is expected to evolve into an AI that outperforms experts and challenge areas traditionally considered impossible for AI such as discovery of new materials and nuclear materials as well as creative areas such as design.

ⓒ Official brochure of the World Knowledge Forum 2021

The World Knowledge Forum, for which this session was held, is the biggest global business forum in the world that began in 2000 for the purpose of leading balanced growth and prosperity of the world through knowledge sharing. This year’s forum is the 22nd iteration. A total of 4,788 international speakers and 52,860 attendees have participated in the forum, which has now grown into a large-scale event. In this year’s forum, discussions took place on a range of topics under the main subject “Terra Incognita: Redesigning the Global Architecture.”