South Korea has selected five teams to spearhead the development of its first homegrown AI foundation models. Naver Cloud, Upstage, SK Telecom, NC AI, and LG AI Research will collaborate on the 'Independent AI Foundation Model' project, backed by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The government will provide support worth 200 billion won to the selected teams, including access to high-performance GPUs, data, and manpower.
The project aims to create AI models surpassing existing domestic LLMs, incorporating omni-modal technology for integrated processing of text, images, speech and video. Naver Cloud will combine its language and voice tech with Twelve Labs' video AI to develop an 'Omni Foundation Model'. SK Telecom plans to optimise domestic Neural Processing Unit (NPU) utilisation. The government plans to reduce the number of supported AI models through phased evaluations.
This initiative aims to enhance South Korea's AI ecosystem, accelerate AI service development and improve public access to AI technologies. The developed models will be open-source and integrated into Korea's AI ecosystem. The project also intends to boost the nation's AI competitiveness and establish a world-class AI ecosystem.
