SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS

Samsung Electro-Mechanics held its first in-house hackathon utilizing its proprietary generative AI 'SEMCo-Work' at the Suwon business site for four days from October 13 to 16.

※ Hackathon: A portmanteau of "hacking" and "marathon," a development competition program where participants intensively plan ideas and implement results within a limited time

'SEMCo-Work' is a combination of 'SEMCO,' the abbreviation of Samsung Electro-Mechanics' English name, and 'Co-work,' meaning collaboration. It is a proprietary agentic AI platform developed by Samsung Electro-Mechanics.

This platform was developed to thoroughly ensure internal security by utilizing in-house servers, while also enhancing compatibility between existing internal systems and AI to improve work efficiency.

The event was organized to allow employees to directly create agents that solve their own work problems using 'SEMCo-Work,' thereby enhancing their AI utilization capabilities.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics plans to expand the AI-based work culture by broadening employees' experience of applying AI to their daily tasks.

The theme of the competition is "Developing agentic AI to reduce repetitive tasks and apply directly to real work." Participating teams identify time-consuming procedures in their daily work and implement solutions based on 'SEMCo-Work.'

Considering the characteristics of a manufacturing company that handles a wide range of tasks from product development to production, quality control, and customer support, the focus was on creating results that could be used in actual operations.

A total of 200 employees, forming 100 teams of two, participated in the competition. The judging is divided into preliminary and final rounds, and five teams that pass the preliminaries will advance to the finals.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics will select winners for the Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Encouragement Awards, with a total prize pool of KRW 33 million. The final winners will be awarded at the company's anniversary ceremony on November 2.

To ensure fairness in evaluation, Samsung Electro-Mechanics is inviting executives in charge of AX from Samsung affiliates, in addition to its own executives, to serve as final judges. The judges will evaluate the level of AI utilization, problem-solving methods, and the potential for real-world application.

Participant Yoon Saemi said, "Using 'SEMCo-Work' made it easy to implement the necessary functions," adding, "I am developing an agent that streamlines data management during the development process and automates repetitive tasks from information gathering to inspection requests and system registration."

Jang Wooseok, Executive Vice President overseeing AI operations at Samsung Electro-Mechanics, said, "It is important for employees who know the field best to directly create the AI agents they need and improve them together with colleagues," adding, "We will support all employees in utilizing AI in their work and ensure that outstanding projects spread into real improvements in day-to-day work."

President Chang Duckhyun of Samsung Electro-Mechanics emphasized, "The AI era is still only 'January 1st,'" and "We must actively respond to AI-driven growth and innovation." He added, "Through this hackathon, the experience of directly creating agents tailored to one's own work will mark the beginning of 'One Person, One AI Agent.'"

Samsung Electro-Mechanics plans to make the agents developed during this competition available to all employees after the event, so anyone can try them out immediately. Feedback from employees will be shared with the development team and reflected in the features to enhance the completeness and usability of the agents.

To foster a culture of actively utilizing AI in the workplace, Samsung Electro-Mechanics holds a quarterly "Agentic AI Contest."

In addition to this hackathon, the company also runs AI idea and use case contests, supporting employees in proposing new ways to utilize AI and sharing their experiences with each other.