KT, Naver chosen as suppliers of S.Korea’s hyperscale AI project

South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) have enlisted four tech enterprises — KT Corp., Naver Corp., maum.ai and AiV.ai—to serve as partners in their Hyperscale AI Ecosystem Construction Project.

Their selection hinges on the companies' advanced AI models that will be made accessible to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), public institutions and budding tech entrepreneurs. This initiative by the Science and ICT Ministry and NIA aims to expedite the integration of hyperscale AI into domestic businesses.

Of the 124 beneficiaries chosen to take advantage of these AI solutions, telecommunications titan KT will employ its AI model Mideum, which features a staggering 2 billion parameters, to deploy AI chatbots and information summary services.

Meanwhile, leading Internet firm Naver will be unveiling HyperCLOVA X next month, a model with 2.4 billion parameters, distinguished for its comprehensive training on Korean language data. Interestingly, Naver's model surpasses OpenAI's GPT-3 by a whopping 6,500 times in terms of data volume.

Despite having their unique AI product lines, both maum.ai and AiV.ai plan to leverage other companies' cloud infrastructures.

"These four companies have proven their AI models are not only commercially viable but also service-ready, hence their approval," a NIA official said. 

The agency will also play a critical role in bridging the gap between the selected firms (demand companies) and the AI model suppliers, enabling the former to evaluate each model's unique features and services before final selection.

Furthermore, both the ministry and NIA will provide demand companies with bespoke consultations on AI-based service planning or development, data learning and enhancement of existing services. Comprehensive training on using hyperscale AI will also be offered.

Significantly, the project will absorb the expenses linked to the use of hyperscale AI platforms, solutions and any costs related to education or consulting incurred during the development of AI services or learning model improvements.

To cultivate the local hyperscale AI ecosystem, the authorities plan to hold AI startup summits and hyperscale AI ecosystem matchmaking events.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at leeswoo@hankyung.com