Samsung's flagship talent development program

Free tuition with 1 million won monthly stipend

Curriculum overhauled to nurture 'AI-native' talent

External partnerships with Kakao and five major banks

Cumulative employment rate reaches 85% since 2018 launch

SSAFY 14th cohort participants pose for a group photo after completing their project presentations. [Samsung Electronics]
SSAFY 14th cohort participants pose for a group photo after completing their project presentations. [Samsung Electronics]

Samsung held the graduation ceremony for the 14th cohort of its Samsung SW & AI Academy for Youth, known as SSAFY, at the program's Seoul campus in Gangnam-gu. Since its launch in 2018, SSAFY has achieved a cumulative employment rate of 85 percent. The program dedicates 60 percent of its total curriculum to AI education, training graduates for real-world AI development roles.

The ceremony, held Monday, drew more than 100 graduates and their families, along with Kwon Chang-jun, vice minister of Employment and Labor; People Power Party lawmaker Seo Il-jun; Ryu Seok-young, a KAIST computer science professor and SSAFY advisory committee member; and Park Seung-hee, president of Samsung Electronics' corporate relations division. Graduates from campuses across the country — including Seoul, Daejeon, Gwangju, Gumi and the Busan-Ulsan-South Gyeongsang region — joined the event online.

SSAFY is Samsung's flagship corporate social responsibility program for talent development, one that Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong personally oversees. All courses are free of charge, and participants receive a monthly stipend of 1 million won ($649) so they can focus entirely on their studies.

A defining feature of the program is its intensive AI immersion. In line with the AI transformation sweeping every industry, Samsung has restructured the curriculum around AI to help participants grow into what it calls "AI-native talent."

Of the program's total 1,725 hours of instruction, about 1,025 hours — roughly 60 percent — are devoted to AI education. The curriculum emphasizes hands-on practice alongside theory, with a focus on building practical development skills.

Samsung has also upgraded the program's infrastructure so participants can learn in an environment that mirrors that of corporate AI developers. The academy set up an AI server environment equipped with high-performance GPUs and provided every participant with an AI development PC with GPU capabilities. Students are also encouraged to use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini.

Participants worked on real-world projects alongside more than 30 companies, taking on actual business challenges and developing AI services ready for immediate commercialization.

One standout example: a team working with IT solutions firm Metalogix developed a service called MoM (Model of Me), which uses a smartphone camera to generate a precise three-dimensional body model through AI. Because it requires only a smartphone — no expensive equipment — the service has practical applications in home fitness, healthcare, and clothing and fashion.

Samsung is also expanding its AI developer training ecosystem through external partnerships in the IT and financial sectors. In June, SSAFY co-hosted an AI hackathon with Kakao, and the two plan to continue running programs together to sharpen participants' practical AI skills.

Samsung signed a memorandum of understanding in 2023 with five major banks — Shinhan, Woori, KB, Hana and NongHyup — to jointly train finance-specialized developers. The five banks have donated a combined 7.5 billion won to SSAFY over three years and provide talent-sharing support through their own employees to help participants build financial knowledge. More than 840 SSAFY graduates have gone on to work at the five banks.

Since the first cohort began in December 2018, more than 11,000 people have completed the program through the 13th cohort, of whom 9,396 have found employment — an employment rate of about 85 percent. Including early hires from the 14th cohort, the cumulative number of employed graduates is approaching 10,000.

Graduates have joined a wide range of companies across IT, telecommunications and finance, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Autoever, Lotte Innovate and Busan Bank, as well as robotics and generative AI specialists such as Rainbow Robotics and Golden Planet.

Kwon said at the ceremony that "SSAFY's role in producing the talent that industry needs is more important than ever, at a time when AI is rewriting the standards of every sector," adding that the ministry would spare no effort in supporting young people to take center stage in the AI era.

Park told graduates that "AI is no longer a technology of the future — it is already changing the very way we work, and you are the ones who will create new possibilities within that change." She added: "I want to tell you to challenge the future that lies ahead with courage, and to embrace failure — because that failure will become the nourishment for your success."


jeongwan@heraldcorp.com