Samsung opens seventh AI research center in Montreal

Samsung has opened a new AI research centre in Montreal. It is the seventh AI research centre to open the company worldwide. It is also Samsung’s fourth AI research centre in North America, alongside Silicon Valley, New York and Toronto.

Canadian Montreal is home to AI researchers at McGill University and the University of Montreal. University researchers have been working with the South Korean company for a long time, with 250 researchers and 9,000 students in related programs. The South Korean tech giant announced that the research centre in Montreal focuses on machine learning, language, vision and multi-model interactions.

1,000 AI researchers

Samsung will also continue to develop virtual assistant Bixby. The intention is that the platform is ultimately very much focused on individual users and that the multi-device platform allows customers to interact with the AI via voice, image, screen and touch.

In order to ensure that this development takes place as quickly as possible, Samsung is – it seems – opening new research centres on a conveyor belt. Last May, the South Korean company announced the opening of centres in Cambridge, Toronto and Moscow. Not much later, another one was added in New York City. Samsung aims to employ a total of 1,000 AI researchers by 2020.

Umbrella platform

It has to be, because Samsung competes with many other tech giants to offer well-functioning AI as soon as possible. Samsung focuses primarily on consumers, for example by automating certain processes. Ultimately, Samsung wants all its hardware, whether it is a smartphone, refrigerator or thermostat, to be connected to each other.

The intention is that consumers will ultimately never have to leave the Samsung ecosystem. They then call on Bixby to turn on the washing machine, or to turn down the heating.