Hyundai Engineering to develop conversational AI for construction

South Korea's Hyundai Engineering Co. is developing a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) program for use in the plant and construction sectors.

The engineering solutions company on Wednesday said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Jenti AI, a startup specializing in AI research and development of related solutions, on R&D of a large language model (LLM) specialized for the two fields.

The proposed AI-based LLM will process and generate human-like languages including linguistic understanding and generation. This is the core technology of the conversational AI service ChatGPT.

Under the MOU, Hyundai Engineering will provide data and knowledge information in plants and construction and Jenti Ai will handle R&D of AI language models. Both companies will jointly develop apps for corporate application of the completed LLM.

When development of the LLM and apps are completed, users can obtain refined data or documents by simply entering a question. For example, if a user inputs "What is the method of calculating the amount of pipe welding," he or she can access specific answers, organized documents and technical advice.

If the developed LLM is applied to the workplace, the expected benefits include higher productivity through quicker information searches; better work efficiency via automatic creation of reports and documents; setup of a work support system with functions like risk analysis and technical decision-making; and launch of an employee training system.

"The Smart Technology Center, our R&D unit, is promoting company-wide digital transformation and innovation of ICT infrastructure to raise work efficiency," a Hyundai Engineering source said. "Based on our data assets, we will develop a variety of smart platforms usable in each business process."

Write to Eun-Ji Shim at summit@hankyung.com