LG Group to launch AI education programs for teenagers

South Korea’s LG Group will include teenagers in its mid- to long-term project to nurture artificial intelligence talent, as AI technology is expected to be adopted into a broader range of applications in the country.

The country’s fourth-largest conglomerate recently decided to launch diverse AI education programs for young people, including one for middle to high school students, according to industry sources on Tuesday. It will run a separate training course for employees at LG Group units, “LG Academy.”

They are aimed at tailoring education programs to different age groups.

In June of this year, it opened four AI programs, including “LG Aimers” for young people and “AI Discovery Lab” for middle to high school students.

Targeting university students, LG joined hands with academia. It began by sponsoring AI-related departments at Sogang University and Yonsei University in Seoul from earlier this year. Their graduates will be guaranteed jobs at one of LG's units.

The departments will cover software research and development such as machine learning, big data, cloud computing, robotics and system software. 

In 2020, LG was the first South Korean conglomerate to set up its own AI research center. The number of the R&D center’s research members is expected to increase to 250 by the end of this year, versus 70 in 2020.

The new hires of the R&D center include Seo Jungyun, retired computer science professor of Sogang University and Lee Moontae, a professor in the Department of Information and Decision Sciences at the University of Illinois.  

In June, LG Electronics Inc.'s AI head Lee Hyun-chul flew to Seattle to lure AI talent from Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com. who are headquartered in the seaport city as competition for hiring AI talent becomes fierce.

LG Group will pour 3.6 trillion won ($2.8 billion) into AI and data-related businesses by 2026.

Write to Ji-Eun Jung at jung@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.