Scatter Lab and Voyager X Together... SKT's Meeting with Startups

SKT Hosts ai.x 2021 Conference
Held Over Two Days, 15th-16th
Leading AI Startup CEOs Attend

SKT Announces Data Sharing Plan
Service Named 'Puzzle' (Tentative)
NHN, SK Hynix, and Others Also Attend

Representatives of South Korea's AI startups attended the 'ai.x 2021 Conference' hosted by SK Telecom. From left to right in the photo are Park Gyubyung, CEO of Tunip; Nam Sedong, CEO of VoyagerX; Kim Taesu, CEO of Neosapiens; Kim Jongyun, CEO of Scatter Lab; and Noh Jeongseok, CEO of B Factory. Photo by SK Telecom

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] “In 10 years, we will have to consider awarding not only the Nobel Prize in Science but also the Nobel Prize in Literature to artificial intelligence.” (Nam Sedong, CEO of VoyagerX), “The AI friend from the movie Her will exist in its early form.” (Park Gyubyung, CEO of Tunip)

CEOs of domestic artificial intelligence (AI) startups gathered at SK Telecom’s ‘ai.x 2021 Conference’ to assess the current state of the AI industry and explore prospects for the next decade. Leading startups such as Kim Jongyun, CEO of Scatter Lab who created the AI chatbot 'Iruda', and Kim Taesu, CEO of Neosapiens known for 'AI voice actors', came together. SK Telecom also unveiled for the first time its external data sharing service under development, called 'Puzzle' (tentative name).

SK Telecom announced on the 16th that it held a conference on the 15th under the theme ‘AI For Everyone’. On the first day, representatives from Korea’s leading startups diagnosed the current reality and future outlook. The day’s sub-theme was ‘AI for X’.

No Jungseok, CEO of B Factory, said in the opening session, “For AI big models that startups find difficult, it will be possible if they secure technology and receive significant value investment,” adding, “The (technical) barriers will gradually lower and opportunities for collaboration will increase.” He also expressed willingness to cooperate with large corporations.

In-depth discussions among SK Telecom developers followed regarding the acquisition and utilization of vast data, which forms the foundation of AI development. Developers shared experiences in securing high-quality big data across various fields such as healthcare, language, and transportation.

The developers stated, “We compare and contrast the collected data, and if we find issues with data reliability, we identify errors in the data collection and delivery process and use corrected data.” They further added, “(In the case of language data) personal information requires multiple reviews, and since abusive or hateful expressions are continuously generated, replacing them with refined expressions is not easy. Refining this remains a major challenge going forward.”

SKT Developing a Platform to Share Data Externally

Kim Yoon, CTO of SK Telecom, is giving a greeting at the conference. Photo by SK Telecom

Measures to enable external utilization of secured data were also proposed. SK Telecom plans to provide valuable content by domain from internal data through a service called 'Puzzle' (tentative name). The plan is to share publicly available data externally in the form of APIs and services. The idea is to offer various data content developed from SK Telecom’s data to individuals, society, and businesses via APIs or web services.

A dialogue also took place with NHN, a partner in SK Telecom’s AI semiconductor ‘Sapeon’, Castedera, a broadcasting group of Sinclair, the largest terrestrial broadcaster in North America, and experts from SK Hynix.

Kim Juhwan, director at NHN, evaluated, “We are building Sapeon in our own data center and are promoting a government demonstration national project, which is progressing smoothly thanks to SK Telecom’s active technical support.” NHN plans to verify and commercialize services such as video and image quality enhancement using Supernova technology, indoor image positioning systems, and bone age analysis through X-ray data via the demonstration project.

Kevin Gauge, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Castedera, said, “Sapeon is very efficient in AI inference compared to existing GPUs and consumes less power, enabling real-time high-definition video conversion services with small infrastructure,” adding, “Applying the next version of Sapeon will allow Sinclair to operate large-scale real-time AI broadcasting in the U.S. at low cost and low power.”

On the second day, the 16th, sessions on industrial AI, bio AI, safety AI, and AI application cases will be held. The day will be hosted by a non-expert, allowing the general public to ask various questions about AI. Real-time participation is possible via SK Telecom’s AI homepage, and from the 17th, ‘replay’ will be available without login.

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