LG To Boost Smart Home Business By Acquiring AI Technologies

LG Electronics is planning to go all-out in acquiring AI technologies in an attempt to boost its smart home business. At IFA 2017, the South Korean electronics company disclosed what it intends to do by 2020.

Over the weekend, LG’s home appliance and air solutions division head Song Dae-hyun spoke at a press conference at a hotel in Berlin about the tech company’s move to expand its smart home business. According to Song, LG wants to boost this aspect of its company by doubling its investment in mergers and acquisitions of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies, Korea Herald has learned.

“As for the AI business, inorganic growth would be more effective. LG officially seeks to acquire some AI companies. But so far, many acquisition projects fell apart due to market conditions,” Song said before noting that Samsung’s neighboring rival “is aggressively looking for a good AI company.”

Song then pointed out that LG “was the first to add Wi-Fi to all of the home appliance lineups this year.” He added, “Based on connectivity, the company will try to bring value to consumers by establishing a smart home ecosystem pivoting on AI, IoT and robotic technologies.”

Speaking of robotic technologies, LG is said to be in the final steps of its preparations for the commercial launch of its robots. “We are nearing commercialization of robots. We receive orders for robots from various industries, such as shopping malls and libraries,” Song said.

Meanwhile, LG is also reportedly strengthening its partnerships with global companies like Google and Amazon. In fact, the company showcased at IFA 2017 how its home appliances such as TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines can be controlled by Amazon’s Echo speaker through the Alexa voice assistant. Moreover, at least seven of its household appliances have support for the Google Assistant platform, as per Business Korea.

LG has its own self-developed speech recognition AI platform, but it has decided to bring other platforms to its appliances to appeal to more consumers. “We do have our exclusive technology, but we apply the Google and Amazon technologies in order to allow consumers to conveniently use LG products with what they prefer to use,” Song said. “We are now working with Google to take advantage of its database accumulated through its search engine. But we are also continuing to develop our DeepThinQ AI platform at the same time.”

LG’s own AI platform is only available in products that are designed to communicate in Korean. This means the technology was made primarily to target local consumers. LG’s products that come equipped with DeepThinQ include a language-learning AI air conditioner, which the company launched in July; the Airport Guide Robot that’s currently operating at Incheon International Airport and an AI speaker called SmartThinQ Hub.

The news about LG’s plan of acquiring AI technologies comes just days after the company took the wraps off of its V30 handset. For the most part, the device launched with specs and features that were already divulged by several leaks. For instance, the V30 did not debut with a secondary screen and instead featured an almost bezel-less OLED display. The phone also has Hi-Fi DAC for unrivaled sound quality on a smartphone. To learn more about the V30 and how it is different from Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8, check out our comparison review of the two devices here.