[From Top Technologists]⑩ Park Sang-yeop, LG CNS CTO: "The Era of 'Agentic AI' That Judges Tasks Independently Is Coming"

"Agentic AI, the Biggest Change in AI Yet"
Agentic AI Platform Development to Be Completed This Year
"Even Complex Systems Can Be Coded by Words Alone"
'Vibe Coding' Task Force in Operation
Applying AI to IT System Quality Management
Checks Code and Suggests Improvements
Securing Robot Technology... Leading 'Physical AI'

Editor's NoteSouth Korea's industry is facing a comprehensive crisis. The rapid rise in raw material prices, the restructuring of global supply chains, and the US-China trade conflicts have compounded to worsen the business environment. The key to overcoming this crisis ultimately lies in technology. Technology is the lifeline and the value of existence for companies. This is also why companies are placing greater emphasis on the role of Chief Technology Officers (CTOs). CTOs have established themselves not only as developers of new technologies but also as strategists who analyze changing markets and present future visions for their companies. Asia Economy met with CTOs of major domestic companies to hear about the core technologies and differentiation strategies that each industry is focusing on. Through the technology strategies of leading companies, we seek ways to enhance the competitiveness of our industries and create future value.

In March 2016, AlphaGo, which faced Lee Sedol 9-dan, achieved a remarkable 4-1 victory, proving the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI). At the time, it was an event that attracted worldwide attention, but in retrospect, AlphaGo was a model based on machine learning that could only perform predetermined tasks like playing Go. The AI industry refers to AI that performs specific tasks like AlphaGo as first-generation AI. The second generation was ushered in by OpenAI in November 2022. Based on large language models (LLMs), 'ChatGPT,' which assists humans, improved the efficiency of all tasks. So, what will third-generation AI look like?

On the 18th, at the headquarters in Magok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, Park Sang-yeop, CTO (Executive Director) of LG CNS, said, "The third generation is 'Agentic AI,' which autonomously judges and solves complex problems," adding, "Simply put, AI can go beyond partially supporting human tasks to even replacing human roles."

"Third-generation AI 'Agentic AI' platform to be launched in the first half of the year"

LG CNS (CTO) . LG CNS

"Let's say we are going on a business trip overseas to New York. Then, we would have to check the flight schedules to New York, find reasonably priced accommodations, and make reservations one by one, right? In the process, to prepare an appropriate business trip budget, we would also need to understand the company's financial status. Agentic AI can autonomously judge and act on all these tasks. It is on a completely different level from AI assistants that simply search for flights and hotels or prepare budgets. Even when using AI assistant services, you only get a little time to have a cup of coffee; they do not replace our work. Agentic AI will bring the biggest change among AI technologies so far."

Park CTO is currently focusing his utmost efforts on the Agentic AI project. They have already applied Agentic AI services to some companies and plan to release an Agentic AI platform that domestic and international companies can use as early as June.

Park CTO said, "Currently, AI assistants are used in various areas such as HR, finance, sales management, or email drafting, but people directly instruct AI assistants according to the tasks needed. However, Agentic AI autonomously judges, calls the necessary AI assistants, issues work instructions, and executes them, thereby replacing human tasks."

LG CNS has formed partnerships with AI startups that possess Agentic AI solutions, such as W&B in the United States and Cohere in Canada. He said, "Companies are particularly sensitive about security and prefer AI models based on their own servers rather than network-connected AI models. Cohere is a verified company that applied the AI solution 'North' in an 'on-premises' manner (servers owned and operated by the company itself) to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the top bank in Canada, so collaborating with them is a great advantage for us."

W&B provides technology to track and manage the process and results of creating or verifying AI models. Executive Director Park said, "We will use W&B to optimize the performance of Agentic AI and monitor quality."

Even complex programs... developed through 'Vibe Coding' by simply describing the feeling verbally

LG CNS (CTO) . LG CNS

LG CNS has also elevated the level of 'Vibe Coding,' a method of developing programs by inputting text into generative AI in the usual conversational tone. Earlier this year, Andrei Karpathy, co-founder of OpenAI, coded solely through conversations with AI, and the program he wanted was actually created. He named this method 'Vibe Coding' because he verbally expressed the desired feeling (vibe) of the outcome, and it has now become an industry-standard term in AI.

Park CTO said, "We operate a Vibe Coding task force (TF) within the company, and we are preparing customer services by developing much more complex systems like tax filing tasks through Vibe Coding, not just simple apps." He added, "If we can develop high-level systems through Vibe Coding, the entire process from personnel deployment, analysis, design, to construction in program development will be completely transformed. This is also how we are leading the use of AI."

LG CNS applies AI to quality control in the IT system development process for clients to verify the systems. Park CTO said, "When we do banking projects, we usually write tens of thousands of programs, but no one can manually check all of them. AI actively finds erroneous code early, detects it, suggests corrections, and automates parts of the development process."

LG CNS is also securing humanoid robot technology that can create synergy with various businesses such as logistics and manufacturing. Currently, autonomous mobile robot technology that recognizes the surrounding environment and autonomously determines tasks or movement paths has been applied on-site. He said, "Previous robots could only repeat the same tasks or move along fixed routes, but autonomous mobile robots can recognize situations with cameras attached to the robot and perform intelligent actions such as stopping when obstacles are detected."

In the future, they plan to develop 'Physical AI' by combining robots and AI. Physical AI refers to AI technology with a physical form, such as robots and autonomous vehicles, capable of recognizing the surrounding environment and controlling systems. Park CTO said, "We have extensive software experience related to robots through logistics business and actual cases of applying robots on-site, so our competitiveness in Physical AI is high."