'45 Billion KRW Invested' Launch of Korea-US Global AI Frontier Lab... Strengthening Science and Technology Cooperation

Creating Joint Achievements through Global AI R&D
Newly Established at NYU... Korea Invests 45 Billion Won over 5 Years

South Korea and the United States have launched the 'Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Frontier Lab' to strengthen cooperation in the AI field through joint research.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) held an opening ceremony on the 24th (local time) in New York, USA, to commemorate the launch of the Global AI Frontier Lab. The event was attended by Minister Yoo Sang-im of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Linda Mills, President of New York University, Hong Jin-bae, Director of IITP, and Andrew Kimball, Chairman of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, among others.

The Global AI Frontier Lab is newly established at New York University, where Korean and American researchers will jointly study ▲ foundational AI ▲ trustworthy AI ▲ medical and healthcare AI fields. Korean researchers will reside locally in the form of overseas dispatch to conduct joint research. To this end, the Ministry of Science and ICT will invest a total of 45 billion KRW over five years from this year to 2028, and New York University will invest $31.5 million (approximately 42.04305 billion KRW) in in-kind resources, personnel, infrastructure, and more.

Previously, President Yoon Suk-yeol has been working to lay the foundation for global digital norms through initiatives such as the New York proposal announcement in September 2022, the presentation of the basic principles of the Digital Bill of Rights in September last year, and the hosting of the AI Seoul Summit in May. In line with this, the government launched the AI Frontier Lab to form a joint Korea-US AI research team and plan research projects.

Minister Yoo said, "This is an important moment marking a new turning point in AI cooperation and innovation between South Korea and the United States," adding, "Let us expand the dimension of the Korea-US partnership." President Mills and Chairman Kimball also congratulated the opening of the Global AI Frontier Lab and the establishment of the Korea-US AI partnership.

Professor Yann LeCun of New York University, one of the four leading global AI scholars, delivered a keynote speech on "The Direction of AI and the Importance of Korea-US AI Cooperation," while Professor Han Wook-shin of POSTECH gave a keynote on "The Direction of Korea-US AI Cooperation through the Global AI Frontier Lab." Professor LeCun is scheduled to serve as co-director of the Global AI Frontier Lab, and Professor Han is the research director for the trustworthy AI field among the three international joint research projects of the Global AI Frontier Lab.

The attendees also visited the Global AI Frontier research site. Minister Yoo engaged in discussions with the researchers about the future of AI and directions for AI research cooperation. The researchers stated that they plan to collaborate to produce world-class AI research achievements through global AI research and development (R&D).