Will Artificial Intelligence be Korea’s Next Big Industry?
With all of this blockchain buzz, it’s easy to forget that there are other major technological sectors being developed as we speak and may completely disrupt our preconceptions of living in the coming years. One of those frontrunners is artificial intelligence - self-driving cars, life-life humanoids, and all manners of responsive technologies that can govern our experiences. However blockchain and token systems might affect this emerging industry, its definitely we should keep a societal eye on in the coming years. I imagine it’ll be similar to the establishment of solar technology in the mainstream - talked about theoretically for the longest time, then all of sudden everyone has a hybrid car and a few panels on their roofs.
Source: CDN0
And the reason I bring it up is that currently, South Korea holds the third highest number of AI patents in the world, only trailing the US (the leader in all patents) and China. Korea’s economic development has proven to successful when hyper-focused on a number of industries that are seemingly unrelated - i.e. shipping systems, semi-conductors, skin treatment/plastic surgery, probiotics, flashy music videos - yet all really draw on the abundant human resource of Korean comprehension. Artificial Intelligence might be that next powerhouse play that stamps Korea’s prowess onto the world stage.
It makes sense for conglomerates such as Samsung and SK Telekom to compete with Chinese phone company Huawei to dominant the responsive phone market or Hyundai to after the self-driving car market in opposition to Google’s dominance. More so that beautiful AI or nice new design features, the brand new capacity for electronics to integrate more with our human impulses is without a doubt the most enviable horizon for these companies.
Our Digital Honor
The issue is also a personal one. Korean’s aren’t well known for being magnanimous and letting go of personal grudges and the AlphaGo stunt was no trifling manner. The event proved that the resource that Korean’s valued above all else - the human resource of hyper-education - was coming under fire by this electronic competitor. If a robot could best a Korean at the game of Go, arguably the most difficult game of comprehension in history, than there would nothing the country could defend in the onslaught of Skynet.
Source: Disruption Hub
But in all seriousness, Koreans have always been dubbed the “fast followers” of the developing world. The country has been able to appropriate major emerging sectors and to jumpstart them on home ground. This has been a largely successful strategy but it has engendered a real desire to beat the world the punch every once in a while. With major telecom, electronics, and manufacturing industries advanced to the point of a 0th-world nation, Korea might just be equipped to rally beyond competitors with this one.
Source: Business Insider
Real Life Applications
Yes yes, we all know that people will buy sex robots by the droves in the future. We’ve already witnessed a major shift from flesh to silicone. I can’t imagine this will be any less of a reality for Korea in the near future.
Source: ZDNet
But there are also major applications of robotic thinking in other facets of Korean society. The DMZ (De-Militarized Zone between South and North) is one place where military officials are already preparing for some helpful AI. The tedious job of border patrol could easily be manned by armed robots. I do hope they name them all Arnold…
Source: Pinterest
The same goes for service industries that make up a bulk of Korea’s domestic dealings. We’ll soon see the world around us robofied.
A Cyborg Future
So what do you think? Will South Korea be a frontrunner in this new market? Let me know your thoughts below!
Wow... hard to say where this is going to end up.
This starts to poke around in some interesting aspects of human nature. In due course, there will be lots and lots of jobs that can be done by robots/automation... opening the question of whether we want/expect these jobs to be filled by "humanoids" or simply to be done by a machine. My point being that you can build AI into pretty much any piece of gear that will hold some circuit boards and memory.
As for South Korea's 3rd ranking, someone else brought up the dominance of Samsung... I have to wonder how much actual innovation will be driven in what seems like a rather monopolistic situation: Will it truly be the best or will it be what makes the most money?
If we follow the trajectory of the last few decades, it's absolutely the amount of money that's in question. It is a critical point and we'll have to see if alternative startups pop up at all.
I'm also excited to see what happens with AI. I think it will really reveal what humans can do. =)
Good Post, excellent
I feel artificial intelligence is the next big industry everywhere. Nice post!
Thanks for reading @archigupta!
Hello @hansikhouse
This is an awesome write up on artificial intelligence. I am particularly interested in humanoids and what future holds for th is aspect of robotic.
This passage reminds me of a documentary I watched some days ago on what goes on on DMZ; in fact, those guys are robots in statue...how they stand still there day in, day out is what beats my imagination. What a job! Hahaha
Certainly, this is certainly the type of post the science guys love to curate. I wonder if you know about steemstem tag?
Upv by @eurogee of @euronation team
Oo I don't know the tag but I'll check it out @eurogee!
And thanks for the comment! Hopefully we can relieve those poor soldiers...
Hahahahahsh indeed. When next you write on science, technology and its likes, do use #steemstem as one of your tags. Its an arm of @curie project that's is saddled with the responsibility of supporting science and technology related posts. And since you're science inclined, I think using the tag will help improve your earnings.
To craft post that meet their criteria, here is the guidelines
Followed by
@eurogee, the Steemivangelist and the founder of @euronation Newbie's Support Team
good post,, thanks for sharing
Thanks for reading!
The real life Omnic Crisis is almost here, lol. (Overwatch fans anyone?) Great post. I was watching a video earlier today on A.I, beautiful and scary. I just hope it's friendly towards us.
Ah I neeeed to play the game to get up to speed. Thanks for the comment @markquestion!
Just following up on your data a little:
When you say that South Korea holds the third highest number of AI patents in the world - it might be worth pointing out that almost 60% of those patents are held by Samsung (see the article you linked), as opposed to in the USA where no one company seems to dominate to nearly the same extent.
Do you think a big company like Samsung can drive this kind of innovation on its own? Or do you think we'll see more, smaller Korean companies popping up to compete?
That's very important to point out, thanks @misdoma!
This is definitely a major obstacle for domestic development and this kingdom-esque attitude has led to Samsung and other conglomerates shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to global competition. Unfortunately, unless Samsung/SK Telekom/Hyundai/etc. proactively open up ways for startups to use their resources, I don't see many 'grassroots' entrepreneurial efforts coming about. This is a sobering reality...
안녕하세요^^hansikhouse님 저는 오늘 8년만에 학자금을 다 갚았습니다 ㅎㅎ 펑펑 울고 스티밋에 들어왔네용~ 즐거운 수요일입니다!!
영어를 못해서 무슨내용인지는 모르지만 그냥 기쁜날입니다~~!!!
Excellent post, I liked it, I follow you to read what you publish, you pass by my profile, maybe something that interests you too, keep posting like this :D
상상일 뿐이긴 하지만.... 저중에 곧 다가올 미래에 실현 가능한게 있다는것에 참 놀라고 갑니다.... 좋은글 감사합니다.
읽어주셔서 감사합니다 @kaine님!