Earlier this year the company made its AI intentions known when it opened a lab in Canada focusing on self-driving cars and image recognition. However, this latest announcement comes buried in a wider statement revealing minor changes to the role of Samsung's chief strategy officer Young Sohn, which has been expanded to explore new business opportunities -- a move designed to "quickly respond to market changes", according to the company. Samsung has a habit of getting ahead of itself, announcing its ambitions before it's close to creating a tangible output (see its ambiguous plans for a folding smartphone and Bixby's roll-out fiasco) so what will come of the company's AI research plans remains to be seen -- at least it's finally establishing itself in the AI club other tech players joined long ago.