Into the Sharing Meeting of LG AI Research's AI Advanced Problem-Solving Course & LG AI Hackathon Awards!

On last August 31, best practice (BP) sharing meeting of AI Advanced Problem-Solving Course and LG AI Hackathon Awards Ceremony were held at the Idea Room of LG AI Research. The events were broadcasted live on the Webex following the social distancing guidelines due to COVID-19. We present to you the BP sharing meeting made with collective intelligence and cooperation of LG AI Research.


Solving the problems of LG affiliates with our own hands—completion ceremony of AI Advanced Problem-Solving Course & BP sharing meeting

AI Advanced Problem-Solving Course is a program to strengthen AI capacities and foster leaders in the field of AI technology organized by the LG Group. Participated by the employees of LG affiliates retaining the basic competence related to AI, it is a program that aims to find the solution to the current problems together with mentors from LG AI Research. This first course was carried out for 12 weeks, from April 6 to June 24. A total of 12 LG employees were paired up with researches of LG AI Research, performing problem-solving activities as well as developing AI models and producing measures that can be applied within the organization.

Kyunghoon Bae, Representative of LG AI Research

Prior to presenting BPs Representative Kyunghoon Bae of LG AI Research gave congratulatory speech to those who have completed the course. Representative Bae mentioned the BP from the AI Advanced Problem-Solving Course that was selected as the official task of the LG affiliate, stating that “This program is meaningful in that the LG affiliates now have the confidence to solve their own problems using AI technology.” Representative Bae also stated, “LG AI Research is here to solve the problems that may arise during the business.”

BP sharing meeting of LG AI Research’s AI Advanced Problem-Solving Course

Through the first Advanced Problem-Solving Course, three teams were selected as the best teams by adding up the scores given by employees (40%), internal examiners of LG AI Research (55%) and attitude of participants (5%). The first-prize winning team is Part Leader Haerim Yoon (mentor: Researcher Jinseok Yang) from the LG Household & Health Care who presented the topic of “LGBM-based demand forecasting of consumer goods event.” The second place winner went to Professional Kwangsoo Im (mentor: Researcher Dongsup Jin) from the LG Electronics on a topic of “Making update package small and fast for the SW update.” The third place winner is Specialist Hyunjae Jeon (mentor: Researcher Byungjun Kang) who developed a model that estimates 3D coordinates of human body using a single RGB camera under a topic of “All you need is a single USB webcam for the Metaverse.”

BP sharing meeting of LG AI Research’s AI Advanced Problem-Solving Course

Among them, the demand forecasting model recorded the accuracy of 85%, a prediction rate that has been increased by 20%p to 25%p compared to existing demand forecasting model. This model was selected as an official task in recognition of its contribution to the performance improvement, which will lead to further research. Presenters unanimously emphasized the importance of data after the end of each presentation. In addition, they mentioned that the collaborative work with mentors from the LG AI Research was of great help in finding new solutions.

BP sharing meeting of LG AI Research’s AI Advanced Problem-Solving Course

Researcher Jinseok Yang, a mentor of the first place winner from the Data Intelligence Lab, commented “After working on the problem-solving task with my mentee, my viewpoint and attitude toward problem somehow changed. When working on the AI-related tasks, I tend to focus on the development of a model. Through this Advanced Problem-Solving Course, I realized once again the importance of the quality data. While keeping a close communication with the actual work, I believe that refining and utilizing data which were recognized through the instinct and sense of the working-level staffs led to a good result. I hope the Advanced Problem-Solving Course to be a window of opportunity to solve further problems of the LG affiliates.”


Finding future AI talents—the 4th LG AI Hackathon Awards

LG AI Hackathon Awards Ceremony

LG AI Hackathon Awards Ceremony took place at the second session. LG AI Hackathon is an event organized by LG AI Research together with Dacon, a data AI competition platform. Celebrating its 4th anniversary, the topic of this year's LG AI Hackathon was “Developing an AI model that enhances the quality of a photo with glare.” A total of 1,101 teams participated in the competition for a month from June 28 to August 2.

Winners of the LG AI Hackathon

The mission of this year’s Hackathon was to remove the glare seen through a display by applying AI technology, which is a highly-advanced technology related to under-display camera that presents full screen by hiding the camera underneath the screen. Examiners of the LG Group go through a fair screening process for the competition, and the winners of the high ranking group receive a total of KRW 10 million with a benefit to be exempted from submitting documents when applying for job at the LG.

Final three teams were selected as winners from the LG AI Hackathon. The first place went to “TEAM-EDA” that proposed SE-Resnext-based UNet model utilizing Attention Module. The second and the third places went to “LG Playbook” that utilized Residual Learning and UNet model based on Pix2Pix and “TEAM-BCP5” that supplemented the problem of Pix2Pix with HINet model, respectively. The winners shared their experience of working the task at the field including problem-approaching/solving method at the awards ceremony.

Presentation by winners of the LG AI Hackathon

Representative Kyunghoon Bae of LG AI Research highly appreciated the efforts and attempts made by all winners and commented, “Since the mission of this year’s Hackathon is a problem faced by LG affiliates, the result and the data of the Hackathon will be utilized meaningfully. The results of the Hackathon will further be developed not only by LG affiliates, but also by LG AI Research as well.” Hwayoung Lee, director of AI Business Division, “We expect that the winners of this year’s Hackathon deliver quality under-display camera applied with their own algorithm to our customers by joining LG in the future.”

The 4th LG AI Hackathon Awards Ceremony

The passion, competence and the possibility of future AI talents were shared through the 2021 BP sharing meeting of the 1st AI Advanced Problem-Solving Course and the 4th LG AI Hackathon. LG AI Research will make various opportunities in the future by overcoming the limit using the AI and fostering talents.