Editorial

Cambridge’s AI power grows after major commitment from Samsung

New Samsung AI Centre, Cambridge – SAIC-Cambridge – will create as many as 150 jobs, says the Korean electronics giant

Posted 30 May 2018 by Gary Flood


In news welcomed in Whitehall, Samsung is to open a new AI (artificial intelligence) centre in Cambridge, a sign of confidence in a post-Brexit UK technology scene.

The Korean multinational says its facility – dubbed the Samsung AI Centre, Cambridge, or SAIC-Cambridge – will open up opportunities for fundamental research in artificial intelligence and enable greater co-operation across the UK academic community on the development of advanced technologies.

“Samsung’s decision to build a new artificial intelligence research centre in the UK, coming the month after our AI Sector deal and the day after the Prime Minister’s strong endorsement of AI in the NHS, is a huge endorsement of Britain’s creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit,” claimed Digital Secretary, Matt Hancock.

“Through our Industrial Strategy we’re working with industry to invest almost £1 billion to make the UK a world leader in artificial intelligence and help us to seize all the opportunities this technology brings.”

The Centre’s head has high profile in both AI and the local Cambridge tech cluster – the former director of Microsoft Research in Cambridge and artificial vision pioneer Professor Andrew Blake.

“This new research centre is one of the key milestones in the long-term strategy of the company,” said Seunghwan Cho, Executive Vice President, Samsung Electronics.

“In this new world of connected devices and services based on AI, Samsung’s vision is to help people do their jobs and live their lives better. We enable a physical connection between people and information, finding new ways of working together to develop more human-centred technology that serves the needs of users first.”

“The centre’s research will help us to better understand human behaviour, exploring areas like emotion recognition, and further expand the boundaries of user-centric communication to develop AI technologies that ultimately improve people’s lives,” added Blake.