Seoul: Two artificial intelligence (AI) consortiums led by Naver Cloud Corp. and NC AI Co. have been eliminated from a government-led competition in selecting developers for South Korea's homegrown AI foundation models, according to the science ministry Thursday. The ministry announced the results of the first round of evaluations in the competition to develop state-funded foundation models for the country's future AI infrastructure.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the three remaining teams are led by SK Telecom Co., LG AI Research, and Upstage. An AI foundation model refers to a large-scale system trained on broad data that can be used to perform a wide range of tasks, with the government seeking to foster homegrown models in line with a vision to become one of the world's top three AI powerhouses.
The ministry said it has carried out a comprehensive evaluation that took a wide array of aspects into consideration, including the models' mathematical capabilities, knowledge, and ability to understand long texts, with LG winning the top mark. A group of experts and a user focus group carried out separate evaluations, with LG receiving the highest ratings in both categories as well.
The ministry noted the Naver team failed to survive the competition after experts pointed out its AI model lacked originality amid criticism that it incorporated some elements of the China-based Qwen model. "Even if we borrow from open sources, simply using pre-trained AI model weights is like piggybacking on others' work," Second Vice Science Minister Ryu Je-myung said during a press briefing in Seoul. Ryu noted that while he is open to the strategic use of open-source materials amid the AI boom, the project was intended to begin training and other development processes from scratch.
The ministry said it plans to later pick one additional candidate consortium to join the competition. Despite being dropped, the Naver Cloud and NC AI consortiums are eligible to reapply for the competition, it added. The National IT Industry Promotion Agency, which oversees the project, plans to pick two teams for the project by the end of this year.
The ministry noted the project has already contributed to revitalizing the country's AI ecosystem by promoting cooperation among competitive businesses and research institutions. "This project is a historic challenge to face global AI competition with homegrown technologies," the ministry said in a release. "The government will secure a homegrown AI foundation model, establish a sustainable and healthy AI ecosystem, and utilize all available capacity and resources to take the lead in the global AI technology competition," it added.