KT and KAIST set up joint research center for human-centered AI technologies

By Park Sae-jin Posted : December 14, 2021, 10:42 Updated : December 14, 2021, 10:42

[Gettyimages Bank]

SEOUL -- South Korea's biggest telecom company KT has joined hands with a state technology institute to jointly set up a research center for next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) technologies including human-centered AI designed to enhance the human experience.
 
Human-centered AI is AI-based technology systems or platforms designed to improve people's wellbeing. AI technology works as a bridge that connects machines and humans for seamless interaction. A human-centered AI system would create a loop of machine-human interactions in which robots learn from human input and improve their abilities.
 
KT said in a statement on December 14 that the company and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) held an event to mark the beginning of their joint work of establishing a research center that would also play the role of an incubator for future AI experts. The research center will be built in KT's research lab complex in the central city of Daejeon. The 1,920-square meter-wide facility, which is about the size of ten tennis courts, will also house a massive graphics processor unit (GPU) infrastructure specialized in AI processing.
 
GPUs are chipsets that were originally developed to accelerate graphic processing in computers and other devices. However, specially designed chipsets also excel in speeding up the computational process for deep learning, which is an essential part of AI development. KT and KAIST will upgrade the core performance of AI using the GPU infrastructure.
 
Using the super-fast AI processing facility, KT and KAIST will start with seven projects that are focused on the research of AI capable of human-like thinking and understanding, AI capable of engaging in creative activities and AI for the wellbeing of people and society. KAIST researchers, professors and students will be involved in the project.
 
"We are very happy to cooperate with KAIST, which has South Korea's No. 1 capabilities in AI and software development," said KT's convergence technology lab head Kim Yi-han was quoted as saying. Kim said that the telecom giant will continue to invest in KAIST to bring changes into customers' lives and bring innovation to South Korea's industrial sectors.
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