[Interview] NAIRL Director: “Securing Foundational Technologies is the Prerequisite for Vertical AI”

In a recent interview with Maeil Business Newspaper, Kee-Eung Kim, Director of the National AI Research Lab (NAIRL), emphasized that while industry-specific “vertical AI” is essential to activating the market, its long-term sustainability depends on Korea’s ability to secure frontier models and foundational technologies at the national level. Director Kim warned that relying on global big tech models may appear efficient in the short term, but a single policy shift from those providers could destabilize Korea’s entire industrial base.

He also reframed the discourse around sovereign AI, arguing that true differentiation lies not in Korean language or cultural fluency alone, but in the capability to independently develop and control AI when demand arises, particularly when AI is deployed atop Korea’s strengths in semiconductors, robotics, and manufacturing.

Highlighting NAIRL’s research focus on foundational capabilities such as model compression, knowledge distillation, distributed training, and novel architectures, Director Kim positioned the Lab as a defensive line for Korea’s technological sovereignty amid intensifying global competition. He also called for reframing “brain drain” as “brain circulation,” fostering a virtuous cycle in which globally active Korean scholars channel knowledge and technology back into the domestic ecosystem.

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📎 https://www.mk.co.kr/news/it/12031105