Korean tech giant, LG Electronics Inc. (LG) is launching the “LG Electronics AI Research Lab”, an extension of LG’s existing AI Research Lab in Silicon Valley, at the Univ of Toronto. The new facility is the latest LG AI lab, joining existing labs in South Korea, India, and Russia, as a part of LG’s growing network of AI researchers. It is part of a five-year-long multimillion dollar research partnership with the university, and according to LG, is intended to “capitalize on the expertise of researchers at the University of Toronto”. LG described the lab as a key component of their efforts to develop AI strategies that fit their “Open Platform, Open Partnership, Open Connectivity” philosophy: as seen previously in their “DeepThinQ” AI development tool that adds AI capabilities to open platforms, and in their WebOS partnership with the South Korean government.

LG President and CEO I.P. Park said that “AI solutions based on deep learning will revolutionize how we interact with the world around us, in new seamless ways that use contextual data from things like biometrics, emotions, gestures, and of course voice”. U of T President Dr Meric Gertler is looking forward to the partnership, saying that “The presence of such leading, multi-national firms in our innovation ecosystem strengthens opportunities for our faculty, students and start-up companies across a whole range of disciplines.”

The new LG lab joins a growing ecosystem of AI research organizations in Toronto. This includes Geoffrey Hinton’s famed Vector Institute, located in the MaRS Discovery District. Samsung and NVIDIA have also recently opened labs in Toronto, joining existing AI research efforts by Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group and RBC-backed Borealis AI, as well as long-standing research organizations like the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the U of T’s Machine Learning Group.