How LG ThinQ products aim to make life better for all
We interviewed Mohammed Ansari, Senior VP and General Manager of the LG Electronics Silicon Valley Lab, to learn more about LG’s AI platform that brings innovative, new capabilities to mobile devices, home appliances and consumer electronics.
LG ThinQ is LG's latest project and they're excited to see its impact unfold. The platform's products and services connect and communicate with each other and employ deep learning to make consumers' lives easier, utilizing a variety of AI technologies from LG as well as other partners.
What is LG ThinQ? It's both a brand and an AI platform whose products include appliances and consumer electronics. LG ThinQ products leverage voice control, as well as sensor data, and features such as product recognition and a learning engine to enhance its performance. LG ThinQ-enabled products can recognize language patterns, images and spaces, and their AI has the ability to customize and enhance features for the user, based on data collected over time.
There is a diverse range of products on the platform. The newly announced LG V40 ThinQ is just one example -- it's a one-of-a-kind 5-camera smartphone that brings a photographic toolkit to your fingertips. The AI Cam recognizes what you are shooting and suggests the best filter, while AI Composition adjusts the position of your subject for artistically balanced photos. Since its launch, the V40 has received high praise for its picture quality and ability to intelligently enhance photos.
We connected over email with Mohammed Ansari, Senior VP and General Manager of the LG Electronics Silicon Valley Lab, to get more information on LG ThinQ and the future of LG's product lineup. Here's what we found out.
CNET: LG ThinQ is described as Designed for Everyone. This may seem a little vague to some. What does it mean to LG?
Ansari: It means that LG ThinQ aims to enhance the quality of users' lives in every aspect: in their homes, when they're on the move, what they eat, what they wear and how they play. Through meaningful innovations, LG ThinQ intends to make daily routines simpler and more enjoyable. Every user will be able to take control of their lives from anywhere and get to experience intelligent solutions that make everyday living simply better.
Earlier this year, LG's top executives gave a keynote address entitled Think Wise. Be Free: Living Freer with AI that discussed LG's vision of a new generation of AI. How does LG ThinQ fit into this vision?
With the overarching message that AI is more than innovation for the sake of innovation, but is in fact the very meaning of Innovation for a Better Life, we hope to utilize our expansive knowledge in the consumer electronics field to provide an AI service that contributes to enabling a better life. LG ThinQ plays its role in fulfilling this vision by delivering on our key AI values of 'Evolve, Connect and Open.'
With LG's proprietary AI algorithm, LG ThinQ products have the capacity to learn and evolve the more they are used, adapting to user habits. This will enable LG ThinQ products to deliver a more personalized experience for customers. By integrating this ability into a diverse portfolio of everyday appliances, it offers a seamlessly connected experience for the user. In addition, open partnerships and collaborations allow LG ThinQ to offer enhanced convenience and the best possible AI solutions for diverse preferences.
Tell us a little bit about LG ThinQ's open approach.
The open approach is a key component of LG ThinQ's AI strategy because it puts us above the competition. The world has become far too complex and far too diverse for any one company to be able to meet all the different demands of customers. This is why we focus on strengthening user experience whether it comes from LG or from an external partner's solutions. As such, we offer product compatibility with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
Because we are open to collaborating with other companies, we design our platforms with our partners in mind, so that users can easily access other solutions without hindrance. We have also expanded our connectivity with other devices outside the home, and following our new membership in the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), we look to actively participate in and lead the standardization of the AI market.
Why was it important for LG to make LG ThinQ compatible with Google Assistant and Alexa?
One company simply cannot provide all the technology and services to satisfy the diverse needs and preferences of consumers. The Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa each have their own unique qualities, so instead of competing against them, we thought it would be more efficient to collaborate. LG aims to leverage the synergy created through such partnerships to focus on the ultimate goal of providing the best possible AI experience, whichever device or solution consumers choose.
Why was an open partnership and open connectivity strategy, as it relates to the LG ThinQ line, important to LG?
The open partnership strategy is crucial in that it pertains to how much LG values the different lifestyles of its customers. By choosing to partner with other companies rather than compete, LG is able to direct all its attention on meeting the infinite needs and demands of users, providing them with the best possible experience.
The LG V40 ThinQ is a great example; along with its AI Cam and AI Composition which enhances camera functionality, it also features the Google Lens which enables the user to search the captured image and provide relevant online information. Open connectivity is equally important in offering users with a seamless AI experience. By expanding connectivity to even outside the home, consumers are able to access LG ThinQ AI services anywhere, anytime.
What part of LG ThinQ do you think will make the most impact on the user's life?
Due to the integrated and interconnected nature of LG ThinQ, it is difficult to say which part would have the largest influence on the user's life. No single component of LG ThinQ can be implemented without the other under the common goal of providing a better life to consumers.
By implementing evolving AI technology across LG's expansive consumer electronics portfolio and through an open AI platform, we believe LG ThinQ users will have a more personalized, life-enhancing experience that grows and evolves over time.
To learn more about the LG V40 ThinQ – the latest release in the LG ThinQ series – click here.