SK Telecom Nurtures AI Talent in the 5G Era... Provides Curriculum to 16 Universities

[Asia Economy Reporter Seol Gina Jo] SK Telecom is launching an initiative to nurture artificial intelligence (AI) talent through online-based lectures optimized for the untact (non-face-to-face) era.

On the 10th, SK Telecom announced that from the second half of the year, it will provide its 'AI Curriculum,' where in-house AI experts lecture on technical theories and business cases based on their field experience, to 16 major universities. The number of universities wishing to adopt the AI Curriculum has increased more than threefold compared to the previous year.

The AI Curriculum is a practical training course consisting of a total of 49 educational videos delivered by 15 doctoral-level experts in AI technology fields such as voice recognition, including the voice recognition AI platform NUGU, video recognition, and recommendation technology.

This year, 113 educational content pieces related to AI, big data, cloud, and the 4th industrial revolution will also be provided as supplementary lecture materials. These materials have so far only been available to SK Telecom employees. SK Telecom plans to additionally operate Q&A sessions where students can directly communicate with experts.

The AI Curriculum began in 2017 through agreements with two universities. It gradually expanded to three universities in 2018 and five universities in 2019. In its fourth year, this year, lectures will be provided for more than 30 credit-recognized regular courses at 16 schools, including Seoul National University. The company added that the response from the educational field has been positive, with some universities requesting to share the materials with students before the semester starts.

SK Telecom plans to continuously share its AI technological capabilities and IT assets with universities to contribute to nurturing the insufficient domestic AI professionals and expanding the ecosystem.

Shin Sang-gyu, Head of the Corporate Culture Center, stated, "As a leading ICT company in AI and 5G, SK Telecom plans to nurture outstanding talent to lead the 4th industrial revolution era," adding, "We will continue to strive to become a model for expanding the domestic AI ecosystem through increased AI exchanges between universities and companies."