Samsung Electronics has secured first place in the finals of the AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC), an artificial intelligence security technology competition held on August 8 in Las Vegas. The event, organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the U.S. Department of Defense, featured a total prize pool of $22.5 million.
The finals were conducted during DEF CON 33, a well-known hacking and security conference. Participants included universities, research institutions, and global technology companies from various countries.
Samsung competed as Team Atlanta, which was led by Samsung Research within the Device eXperience (DX) Division. The team collaborated with security experts from several universities: Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH).
The competition began in 2023 and lasted two years. Forty-two teams reached the semifinals last year, but only seven advanced to this year's final round.
“Samsung Electronics was able to achieve meaningful results by demonstrating its AI-based security technology capabilities at a global security technology competition,” said Taesoo Kim, VP of Samsung Research, who led Team Atlanta. “We will continue to expand collaboration with global security experts to further advance Samsung Electronics’ security technology proficiency.”
Team Atlanta distinguished itself in the semifinals as the only participant to detect an unintended vulnerability that had not been prearranged for the contest. In the finals, teams were assessed on their ability to analyze source code vulnerabilities and apply patches using only AI-powered technologies without human intervention.
By earning first place through its technical expertise in AI-driven security solutions, Team Atlanta received a $4 million prize.
Following this result, Samsung intends to use AI technologies to develop new autonomous security solutions capable of identifying and addressing vulnerabilities continuously across its products and services.