KAIST College of AI holds vision ceremony; deputy prime minister stresses flexibility, openness and coexistence; more than 50 specialized courses planned

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon delivers a keynote address at the KAIST College of AI vision ceremony on Sunday. [KAIST]
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon delivers a keynote address at the KAIST College of AI vision ceremony on Sunday. [KAIST]

"Investing in AI talent is the most urgent priority if we are to respond proactively to the era of AI transformation," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon said.

Bae made the remarks Sunday in a keynote address at the KAIST College of AI vision ceremony.

The event was organized to share the college's vision and strategic direction — spanning talent development, education and research innovation, industry collaboration and the building of a responsible AI ecosystem — with domestic and international audiences.

KAIST College of AI, which launched its undergraduate program this spring semester, aims to develop students who expand knowledge alongside AI and design the future through original inquiry, rather than those who simply use AI as a tool. The college plans to cultivate both research talent to lead core AI technology and convergence talent to apply AI creatively across diverse fields, building an education and research framework covering model, algorithm, system, infrastructure and domain integration, as well as future societal design and responsible AI.

Speaking on the theme "Korea's Future: People Who Change AI," Bae identified flexibility, openness and coexistence as the three pillars of educational innovation needed to nurture core AI talent.

He called for flexibility that allows students to design their own AI majors across disciplinary boundaries, openness that connects them with diverse experts to solve real industry challenges within a global ecosystem, and coexistence as a value guiding the development of AI that remains fundamentally human. He also expressed the government's strong commitment to supporting a freer, more innovative academic system.

Yoon Kuk-jin, dean of KAIST College of AI, presented the college's vision and innovation roadmap, saying AI is the core foundation for new knowledge production and future design.

The ceremony also included the inauguration of an advisory council tasked with driving AI education innovation across teaching, research, industry and global cooperation. International advisers include world-renowned AI scholars Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montreal and Cho Kyung-hyun of New York University. Domestic members represent major AI and ICT companies and research institutions, including the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Naver Cloud, Lunit, Rebellions, Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, Upstage, NC AI, Inable Fusion, Krafton, and Hyundai Motor Co. and 42dot.

KAIST College of AI is working to define a curriculum suited to the AI era and plans to open more than 50 specialized courses, incorporating the AI education needs and future vision identified at the event.

The college plans to expand joint research, industry-academia projects, internships and problem-based learning with companies, building an education and research framework closely tied to real industry settings. It also intends to collaborate with firms across cloud, semiconductor, robotics, healthcare and other sectors to pursue research and talent development that reflects industry demand.

"We will build a differentiated AI education system for Korea through active communication with students, the primary consumers of education," Bae said.


nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com