May 02, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] It looks like Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong’s buzzword for the time being is artificial intelligence.

Samsung Venture Investment, a venture capital firm under Samsung Group, will invest US$4.6 million in Israeli AI audio solution firm Audioburst, according to the two companies on April 2. The investment took place when Lee was in Europe on his first step into the corporate world since he was freed from jail in February after serving a year for his alleged involvement in the Choi Soon-sil scandal.

 

Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong

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“Our platform will add a new, personalized, searchable audio aspect to Samsung Smart TVs, so now consumers will get a personal assistant style experience on their devices,” Amir Hirsh, CEO of the startup, said in a press release.

The Audioburst solution is expected to help transform Samsung’s connected electronic products into voice-activated devices to offer users news, sports, entertainment, traffic and weather information.

“Our platform analyzes millions of minutes of live and pre-recorded audio content each day -- podcasts, radio streams and other audio sources -- tagging and indexing them and making them searchable by keyword, context and topic,” the Israeli firm said.

Industry watchers say Lee is -- finally -- taking a page from other IT giants such as Google, and Apple.

The Korean tech behemoth has recently decided to set up an AI research center in Paris, where around 100 AI researchers will conduct projects related to the technology. Samsung has also launched this week a new FlexWash washing machine lineup featuring its signature AI assistant solution Bixby, which can answer questions and handle commands by voice. The firm is planning to make the AI system universally available in all of its products.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)