Artificial intelligence may hold the key to many of the world’s pressing issues such as climate change, said Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kim Ki-nam on Monday.

Speaking at an annual AI forum, hosted by his company, the senior executive stressed the wide-reaching capability of AI, not just for businesses, but for the betterment of humankind.

“The advancement of AI is going beyond the electronics industry and expanding to various fields, such as basic science. We expect AI to provide solutions to social issues such as climate change and environmental pollution in the future, but there are still many challenges to tackle to make this possible,” Kim, who doubles as CEO of device solutions at Samsung Electronics, said in his opening speech of Samsung AI Forum.

In its fifth edition this year, the event kicked off Monday for a two-day run, with world-renowned AI experts participating virtually. It was livestreamed on Samsung Electronics’ YouTube channel.

The first day of the forum was hosted by Samsung’s R&D hub dedicated to cutting-edge future technologies, the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology.

The second day will be hosted by the company’s R&D hub dedicated to consumer electronics, IT and the mobile communications division.

The company also announced this year’s winners of the Samsung AI researcher of the year award on the first day of the forum.

The awards were launched last year to recognize rising AI researchers globally.

This year’s awards went to Georgia Tech professor Diyi Yang, MIT professor Jacob Andreas, Georgia Tech professor Judy Hoffman, MIT professor Phillip Isola and Oxford University professor Yarin Gal.

“I’ll put more effort into further developing the current AI system to realize AI that is close to natural intelligence,” said Isola.

Monday also marked the 52nd anniversary of Samsung Electronics’ foundation.

Kim, in his address to employees, called on the need to prepare for the changes the future is to bring to the society.

“It is time to find a new growth engine in the super-intelligent society that will develop over the next 10 years and ask ourselves whether we will be able to stand as the most highly rated century-old company,” he said.

Kim added, “The Big Bang will arrive, where new business models and products will be rapidly evolving in all sectors of daily life,” and that they must prepare by switching to a management system that can respond preemptively for such changes.