KT Partners with KAIST to Jointly Establish 'AI and SW Technology Research Institute'

Koo Hyun-mo, CEO of KT (left), and Lee Kwang-hyung, President of KAIST

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] KT, which has declared its transition to a digico (digital platform company), is establishing an ‘AI·Software (SW) Technology Research Institute’ with KAIST, the nation’s top science and technology research institution, to develop innovative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

On the 23rd, KT announced that CEO Koo Hyun-mo and KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding for the Establishment of a Joint AI and SW Research Institute.’

Earlier this year, KT established the AI2XL (AI To Everything Lab) research institute and the AI Robotics Business Unit, and has been accelerating its AI business by recruiting top talents such as Professor Dennis Hong. Going forward, KT plans to enhance R&D encompassing both foundational AI technologies and industrial technologies through full-scale collaboration with KAIST, the nation’s leading science and technology research institution, and to lead the cultivation of future talents.

KT and KAIST plan to jointly establish the ‘AI·SW Technology Research Institute’ at KT’s Daedeok 2 Research Center and officially launch it within the year. KT will provide research infrastructure support, including preparing an R&D space that can accommodate about 200 professors, researchers, and KT employees, as well as building a dedicated GPU server farm. According to the company, the AI·SW Technology Research Institute is equipped with ▲state-of-the-art infrastructure ▲top-level specialized researchers in Korea ▲vast data from KT and KAIST covering commercial services and research sites, all prepared for ‘hyper-scale AI’ R&D.

The research institute plans to conduct a total of 20 initial joint research projects in the fields of ‘foundational technology’ and ‘industry AI.’ First, regarding ‘foundational technology,’ 15 future-oriented research tasks have been selected, including voice, vision, and humanistic AI (human-centered AI). Through this, they aim to develop AI models capable of sophisticated situational awareness and responses based on complex information such as conversation and reasoning similar to humans, voice, video, and sensing.

Additionally, to strengthen business competitiveness and explore next-generation markets, five initial projects have been selected in the ‘industry AI’ fields such as media, healthcare, and robotics, and joint research will be conducted. Both parties plan to lead changes in life and digital innovation in industries through substantial joint research outcomes and will renew research tasks annually through consultations.

Furthermore, through joint research, they aim to jointly develop next-generation AI models that will lead the global market and drive efficient AI infrastructure construction. For example, by jointly developing next-generation AI models following GPT-3, they expect to strengthen AI global competitiveness through high-level research and proactively lead the ‘post-AI era.’

In addition, KT plans to support nurturing infrastructure such as space, equipment, and personnel for KAIST students who wish to start startups. A startup mentoring program utilizing KT’s accelerator model, which includes discovering, nurturing, and investing in startups, is also planned. Scholarship and internship programs will be operated for outstanding talents whose capabilities have been proven through participation in joint research.

KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung said, “KT is an excellent AI R&D partner with differentiated data through various digital platform businesses,” and added, “I hope that meaningful innovative technologies will emerge not only in academia but also in industrial sites through the AI·SW Technology Research Institute in the future.”

KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo said, “Along with focusing internal AI capabilities, forming an AI one-team, and actively pursuing various external collaborations such as discovering startups, this joint research with KAIST will be an important driving force for KT’s AI R&D leap and business base expansion,” and added, “We will spare no support to establish this as the nation’s top industry-academia joint project and to produce research outcomes that lead changes in customers’ lives and industrial DX.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.