Samsung Electronics is nurturing talented professionals in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer engineering to strengthen its research capabilities for next-generation semiconductors and enhance the competitiveness of its research in the emerging sectors, its R&D unit said Monday. Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), an R&D unit of Samsung, said it will hold this year's Samsung AI and CE Challenge for graduate and undergraduate students studying at local universities for about two months to support the activities of young researchers. SAIT is holding the contest for the third time this year to discover young professionals in science and technology. This year, the competitions have expanded to four categories by adding computer engineering to the existing AI field. The four competition categories are image recognition technology for autonomous driving; machine learning algorithms for simulating semiconductor materials; simultaneous quantitative and qualitative evaluation of camera image quality using AI technology; and computing system optimization for large-scale language model (LLM) inference. SAIT will provide the winners with mentoring sessions with its research leaders in AI and computer engineering and will also organize a camp to exchange research results and ideas among the winning teams. "Samsung expects the event to generate new ideas for AI and computer engineering technologies, and for participating students to have the opportunity to interact with Samsung's technology leaders," Samsung said. "SAIT is overcoming the limits of R&D in various fields such as next-generation semiconductors, computer vision and computing systems based on AI," Jin Kyo-young, president of SAIT, said. "Through the challenge, we will strengthen the domestic ecosystem for AI and computer science research, broaden the scope of future technology research and continue to discover excellent professionals." Kim Eun-ho from POSTECH, one of last year's winners in the Materials Discover category, said the young researchers participating in the contest will be able to broaden their horizons through the mentorship and networking provided by Samsung. "Participating in the challenge allowed me to think more deeply about my research field," Kim said. "The mentorship from SAIT's technology leaders gave me a broader perspective on my research, and the academic exchange with students working in the same field was very motivating." A total of 16 teams will be selected and awarded, including the top prize for each category, with the top prize winning team receiving 10 million won ($7,444). Students who want to participate will be able to apply from Monday on SAIT's website. The AI category will be held until October 2 while the computer engineering category will be until October 20. Winners will be announced at the end of October.   (ICE SEOUL)

Fonte notizia: THE KOREA TIMES