AI One Team, an industry-academic collaboration alliance to explore new business opportunities in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) led by South Korea’s telco major KT Corp. is joined by more big names.

Korea Investment & Securities Co. and local processed food maker Dongwon Industries Co. will sign a memorandum of understanding to join the AI One Team as early as this month, according to IT industry sources on Sunday. It is reported that LG Electronics Inc. and wireless carrier LG UPlus Corp. will also jump onboard.

AI One Team was formed in February by KT in partnership with Hyundai Heavy Industries Holding, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Hanyang University, and Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). The alliance aims to collaborate on fostering AI technology and nurturing specialists. They will also work together to create an AI open ecosystem and unearth business opportunities.

The alliance has set up a round table, through which the participants will not only discuss advancing their AI technology together but also creating a new business that unites products and services from different areas.

The global race to take the lead in the AI field and even the next-generation network 5G is intensifying, said an industry expert, adding that a collaboration that goes beyond industrial boundaries is a must to move ahead of others.

Separately on the same day, KT said its chief executive officer Koo Hyun-mo was appointed as a as a commissioner of the Broadband Commission, an organization that the International Telecommunication Union and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) set up to support digitally driven technology development across the world. Koo is the only Korean among 58 commissioners.

By Lim Young-sin and Cho Jeehyun

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