Motif Eliminated From South Korea’s ‘National AI’ Contest, Leaving Three Teams
Summary
- The government said the second evaluation of its AI foundation model project had narrowed the field to LG AI Research, SK Telecom and Upstage.
- The Ministry of Science and ICT said Motif Technologies was eliminated in the second-stage evaluation, leaving three teams to advance to the next round.
- The government said it plans to conduct additional evaluations of the remaining three teams and select the final two teams by year-end.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
LG AI Research, SK Telecom and Upstage Advance
Final Two Teams to Be Selected by Year-End
South Korea’s government project to choose a homegrown artificial intelligence foundation model has been narrowed to three contenders: LG AI Research, SK Telecom and Upstage.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on August 18 that Motif Technologies was eliminated in the project’s second-stage evaluation. The three remaining teams will move on to the next round.
Motif joined the project’s core lineup in February through an additional application process, making it the late entrant in the field. It had emerged as a potential dark horse after receiving the highest score among participating companies in a recent assessment by global AI evaluator Artificial Analysis, but it did not advance.
The second-stage evaluation combined benchmark tests, expert reviews and a public assessment in which 200 citizens used each model directly. The review covered model performance, originality, practical applications and AI agent capabilities.
The government plans further evaluations of the three remaining teams before selecting the final two by year-end.
Lee Young-ae, Hankyung.com reporter, 0ae@hankyung.com
Korea Economic Daily
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