Heads of the Three Telecom Giants at MWC Focus on 'LLM'... The Key is 'Where and How'

"Detelecommunication" Mobile Carriers' LLM Leadership Race
SKT 'Telco Specialization'... KT 'Multi Strategy'
LGU+ Expands B2B Business with sLLM

"If last year's hot topic was who created the bigger large language model (LLM), this year it will be more important who can make money by utilizing it."

At a press conference held on the 26th (local time) during the 'Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024' in Barcelona, Spain, Yoo Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom, stated this. The new growth engine for the three domestic mobile carriers (SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus), who unanimously talk about 'beyond telecommunications,' is expected to be the artificial intelligence (AI) business, especially large language models (LLMs). The CEOs of each company are fiercely competing in various ways such as talent acquisition, organizational restructuring, and domestic and international collaboration to gain an edge in LLM development.

SKT Builds Global Alliance Sharing the Vision of 'Telco LLM'

Yoo Young-sang, President of SKT / Photo by SKT

SKT announced its plan to create a 'Telco LLM' with expertise across all industries. Yoo Young-sang, CEO of SKT, said, "Vertical (specialized) LLMs will emerge in every industry, and there will be a significant difference between operators who can create them and those who cannot. Whether in telecommunications or any other industry, if vertical LLMs are developed globally, it will expand the entire industry's landscape."

To develop the Telco LLM, SKT officially launched the 'Global Telco AI Alliance (GTAA)' with leading telecom operators from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and signed a joint venture establishment agreement. CEO Yoo explained the significance of the joint venture, saying, "Global telecom companies aim to become game changers leading market changes through cooperation in AI fields such as Telco LLM."

The founding members of GTAA, including SKT, Deutsche Telekom, e& Group, Singtel Group, and SoftBank, have a combined subscriber base of 1.3 billion, enabling SKT to secure abundant data based on this. The joint venture will carry out joint development and business cooperation for the Telco LLM. CEO Yoo stated, "We expect the joint venture's LLM to advance to a stage within this year where not only SKT but also GTAA member companies can use it."

KT Pursues Multi-Strategy from Lightweight to Ultra-Large Models

Kim Young-seop, CEO of KT / Photo by KT

KT expressed its ambition to implement a multi-LLM strategy based on demand. Oh Seung-pil, Vice President of KT, said, "From the customer's perspective, ultra-large models are preferable, but from a corporate standpoint, there is increasing demand for lightweight models that are cost-competitive and can be fine-tuned with domain knowledge. We are focusing on this." He added, "As a company that has developed models ranging from lightweight to ultra-large, we plan to offer lightweight models (sLLM) that reduce size while maintaining parameter size."

The 'multi-LLM' approach is also applied to KT's work system. KT is developing and plans to apply company-wide an internal work innovation platform called 'Gen. AIDU,' which is based on a multi-LLM strategy using KT's own ultra-large AI 'Mideum,' OpenAI's GPT, and Meta's LLaMA. Gen. AIDU is a platform that allows direct development and use of application programming interfaces (APIs) using generative AI, enhancing work convenience and strengthening security.

KT is actively recruiting talent to strengthen its digital capabilities. Recently, it hired about 1,000 ICT specialists and operates the 'AX Degree' program, where KT employees can learn AI modeling, data science, and more. CEO Kim Young-seop described KT's strategy as 'AICT,' combining AI and information and communications technology (ICT), stating, "We will develop and grow by adding AI to telecommunications."

LGU+ Commercializes sLLM Based on 'IXIZEN'... Expands to B2B Services

Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus / Photo by LG Uplus

Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus, announced plans to unveil LG Uplus's specialized conversational AI model 'IXIZEN' in the first half of the year. LG Uplus plans to commercialize a small language model (sLLM) based on this and expand it to business-to-business (B2B) services. Chief Data Officer (CDO) Hwang Gyu-byeol said, "We judged that it is better to commercialize sLLM in specific areas, and IXIZEN will take that form. Various versions of the model will be tailored to vertical (specialized) domains by learning LG Uplus's own data and necessary data."

CDO Hwang also mentioned that LG Uplus recently invested 10 billion KRW in FortyTwoMaru to further advance sLLM for business competitiveness. He said, "We invested because FortyTwoMaru enhances the accuracy of LLMs. There will be many areas for joint development, and we will be able to expand into safe AI utilization." In this regard, LG Uplus plans to expand investments not only in FortyTwoMaru but also in other companies.