Chang played a major role in this year’s AI & Big Data Expo in Santa Clara last week, taking part in both a solo presentation on “Process Automation from IoT Data” and a panel discussion on “Data and the Customer”.

Following the event, AI News decided to catch up with Chang to discuss LG’s current experience in artificial intelligence and where the industry is heading next.

How important is AI becoming to differentiate from competing products?

With artificial intelligence gaining traction across a range of industries, it’s becoming important to allow differentiation among competing products. LG’s pursuit of “Evolve, Connect, Open” when it comes to AI and ThinQ offers enhanced convenience for users with diverse needs and tech preferences in their homes through personalised, proactive, easy, and efficient solutions. This approach allows the company to align with and offer the most expansive list of smart integrations on the market – whether with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or future partnerships.

Specifically, with our open approach, LG is progressing toward incorporating IoT technology throughout the entire journey – including the product design/concept, the launch of new helpful tools, and proactive OTA (Over-The-Air) updates. LG is working with world-class cloud partners from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, and combining with in-house development to develop, customise, and operate our IoT platforms.

AI is key to differentiating your products on the market by offering more robust opportunities and offerings for the larger consumer base.

What challenges has LG faced moving into AI and how did it overcome them?

The biggest challenge we faced as a whole moving into AI was creating truly meaningful products that will help our customer base with their daily routines and truly improve their lives. Through listening to what they want, we were able to produce a line of help innovations that do just that. 

LG ThinQ products use voice control to interact with users, as well as sensor data and diverse features such as product recognition and learning engine technologies to enhance their performance.

Do you think the smart home is meeting expectations?  

The smart home is a growing trend within the AI industry thanks to the influx of helpful tools introduced across the field. While many advancements have been made in such a short timeframe, we are still in the first inning of this technology adoption.

LG is focused on delivering better consumer benefits with advanced technology that will continue to improve over time. We aim to make the home more proactive and personalised for users based on our behaviour data collected across the products servicing their many needs. Knowing more about our user and their life leads to enhanced performance and, ultimately, to a better life.

Will distributed ledger technologies be important for smart devices and are there any plans at LG ThinQ to use them? 

While we are actively looking at distributed ledgers, including blockchain technology, there is no specific timetable for implementation. We believe this would be useful to enable an open ecosystem where various companies and contributors can participate. 

Is there a specific area of the market you and the LG ThinQ team are excited about?

LG is committed to producing helpful innovations for consumers. One example is our new AI-infused customer service solution, Proactive Customer Care. It’s a new paradigm in customer satisfaction, one that ensures greater value and peace-of-mind for owners of our smart home appliances.  

When it rolls out in the United States next year, Proactive Customer Care will leverage ThinQ AI to provide personalised support, alerting users to issues with their LG appliance, and offering helpful tips and solutions to maximise performance and long product life. Using the latest in AI technology, LG Proactive Customer Care is designed to inform LG smart appliance owners of potential problems before they even occur – it can expedite technician visits, if needed, and offer guidance on how to keep LG’s products functioning optimally.

What did you speak about during this year’s AI Expo North America?

I was thrilled to take part in my first AI & Big Data Expo North America in Santa Clara. As part of my activities onsite, I welcomed interested attendees to visit the panel discussion on “Data and The Customer” where I was joined by fellow industry insiders to discuss in the relationship between the data collected from companies and its customers.  

I also conducted a solo presentation on the topic of “Process Automation from IoT Data.” I helped to define process automation for IoT data and how it is key to use not only the right platform for your business, but also one that allows true process integration and automation for optimisation. This is essential to our work at LG and helps shape our future product launches.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this? , , , AI &

The post LG ThinQ: Our experience with AI so far and what’s next for the industry appeared first on AI News.

As the UK prepares to depart the EU, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is boosting funding of industries where the UK is already emerging a leader to help solidify its position on the world stage.

£75 million will be set aside for artificial intelligence to build on the existing success stories from the likes of Cambridge-based DeepMind — which was acquired by Google for £400 million back in 2014. Up to £20 million will support companies developing AI services while £45 million will support increasing the number of PhD students studying AI each year.

Part of the reason for the lack of electric vehicle adoption in many European countries is the lack of supporting infrastructure. £400 million will be invested in charging points along with a further £100 million to boost purchases of clean cars.

This infrastructure will also help with the deployment of driverless cars — but the biggest hurdle remains setting insurance and regulatory policies. Speaking to our sister publication IoT News back in January, Jeremy Dalton, CTO of TravelSpirit, noted the Department for Transport’s work to create an environment for autonomous vehicles to be developed with little hindrance.

5G will enable greater connectivity and open up new possibilities for the IoT. Driverless cars and their connected features will likely require this next-generation mobile technology for its greatly reduced latency and increased reliability. A further £35 million will be made available to ensure rail passengers have reliable and “lightning-speed” connections during journeys. Trials will begin on the Trans-Pennine route which connects Leeds, Manchester, and Liverpool.

Other related announcements in the budget includes £76 million to boost digital and construction skills, £9 million to fund an advisory board for safe and ethical innovation, and £100 million to train an additional 8,000 qualified computer science teachers (supported by a new National Centre for Computing.)

The government funding is alongside increasing private investment in AI and IoT. According to Deloitte’s new Digital Disruption Index, 85 percent of senior executives plan to invest in artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things by 2020. More than half of the organisations surveyed expect to invest over £10 million in digital technologies such as AI, cloud, robotics, analytics, blockchain, the IoT, and virtual and augmented reality.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Monday a 1.7 billion pound fund to help regenerate cities and a 2.3 billion pound boost to research and development spending, due in 2021/22.

“This is a new long-term approach to shaping a stronger and fairer economy for decades to come,” May said in a Times newspaper article.

Whether it’s private or public investment, there’s little debate over the importance of giving these industries all the financial support they need to grow and thrive.

Are you impressed with the funding in the budget of future industries? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The post Budget: UK to boost ‘industries of the future’ funding – including AI, IoT, and driverless cars appeared first on AI News.