Samsung Chooses Mila for Its New Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

Global electronics giant Samsung today officially moves into its new 2,000-square-foot Artificial Intelligence (AI) laboratory in the heart of Mila, the respected AI research center located in Montreal’s Mile Ex neighbourhood.

Headed by Professor Simon Lacoste-Julien, Professor at the Université de Montréal and member of Mila, the SAIT AI (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence) Lab Montreal will conduct fundamental research on voice recognition, machine translation and natural language understanding (developing the capability of machines to understand the meaning of a text).

Voice recognition and machine translation

Attracted by Montreal’s cutting-edge expertise and research capabilities in AI, Samsung has been working closely with researchers in the city since 2014. “This collaboration has been very productive and has enabled us to develop expertise in voice recognition and machine translation,” says Eunsoo Shim, Senior Vice President, Head of the AI&SW Research Center at Samsung Electronics. “With a local team in Montreal, Samsung will be able to further develop its deep learning research.”

The South Korean firm plans to have approximately twenty researchers based in Montreal within five years. SAIT AI Lab Montreal is already recruiting world-class researchers interested in working in collaboration with Mila’s ecosystem in order to further our understanding of the fundamental principles of machine learning.

Open science in a unique ecosystem

“This new laboratory is based on a unique model that’s a world’s first,” says Professor Lacoste-Julien. “It’s a corporate lab nested within Mila’s academic ecosystem. All the research carried out here follows the open science model, which aims to share the benefits with society as a whole.”

Founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio, Mila is the result of a collaborative relationship between the Université de Montréal, McGill University, Polytechnique Montréal and HEC Montréal. “We are delighted to welcome a company of Samsung’s stature to our space, where almost 350 international AI researchers are already sharing quarters,” says Valérie Pisano, Mila’s CEO. “Montreal has the largest deep learning academic community in the world and Samsung’s commitment to expanding its presence here will increase our ability to attract the best minds in the field.”

The establishment of this laboratory at Mila aligns with Samsung’s strategy of setting up centres in areas that have a significant concentration of AI researchers. Montreal now has two major laboratories: Samsung AI Centre Montreal (mainly dedicated to robotics and connected objects, and directed by professor Gregory Dudek) and SAIT AI Lab Montreal (directed by professor Simon Lacoste-Julien).

About Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology

The Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) is Samsung Group’s R&D hub, established as the incubator for cutting-edge technologies under the founding philosophy of boundless search for breakthroughs. SAIT AI Lab Montreal plays a key role with SAIT to redefine AI theory and the next generation of deep learning algorithms.

About Mila

Founded in 1993, Mila brings together researchers specializing in the field of deep learning. Recognized globally for its significant contributions to the field, Mila has distinguished itself in the areas of language modelling, machine translation, object recognition and generative models.

Source: SAIT AI Lab Montreal

To schedule a visit to the laboratory or an interview with Professor Simon Lacoste-Julien, please contact:

Diep Truong
Exergue Communications
514 524-7348
diep@exergue.ca