KT, Microsoft forge partnership for AI push

Korean telecommunications giant KT Corp. said Tuesday it has forged a strategic partnership with Microsoft to enhance ties on artificial intelligence, among others.

The new partnership, aiming at jointly developing AI, cloud and IT services tailored for the Korean market, was sealed at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, on Monday, with KT CEO Kim Young-shub and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in attendance.

With details of the partnership coming in September, this is the first time that the US tech giant has teamed up with a Korean firm for AI innovations.

CEO Kim expressed optimism about the partnership, stating, “We will do our best to set a milestone in Korea’s digital innovation and swiftly respond to changes in the market through comprehensive collaboration with Microsoft.”

Committing to jointly invest billions of dollars, the two sides have ambitious plans to establish an AI and cloud innovation center, accelerate R&D projects and cultivate talent in the AI and cloud sectors.

KT plans to enhance data sovereignty and security at a high level of security for customers, which is one of the company’s primary objectives. It looks to use Microsoft’s technological prowess to develop sovereign cloud and AI services for delivering robust security features to the public and financial sectors.

Through the alliance, KT's goal is to increase its presence as an "AICT" company by launching Korean-style AI, cloud and IT services.

In October, KT unveiled Mi:dm, its own large language model for corporate clients who want to develop advanced AI services using generative AI technologies.

Unlike generic models such as OpenAI's GPT, Mi:dm allows companies to incorporate their specialized datasets to produce tailor-made AI products. Mi:dm combines features such as Document AI, Search AI and FactGuard AI to improve the model's overall efficiency and accuracy.