CEO Jung Jae-hun to deliver opening lecture in 15-week joint course

Program covers AI services, modeling and infrastructure

A poster announcing the special lecture by SK Telecom CEO Jung Jae-hun. [SK Telecom]
A poster announcing the special lecture by SK Telecom CEO Jung Jae-hun. [SK Telecom]

SK Telecom announced Monday that it has partnered with Seoul National University to launch an industry-academia joint course aimed at cultivating the next generation of AI leaders.

The "SK Telecom–Seoul National University AI Joint Program" will run for 15 weeks during the second semester of 2026, targeting graduate students in the university's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The curriculum is organized around SK Telecom's full-stack AI capabilities, covering three areas: AI applications and services, AI modeling, and AI infrastructure. The course will draw on the company's core AI research achievements and commercialization cases.

SK Telecom executives, team leaders and doctoral-level staff who work on AI development will teach the sessions, sharing hands-on experience gained through real research and commercialization projects.

CEO Jung Jae-hun will deliver the opening lecture Tuesday. Speaking to approximately 300 graduate and undergraduate students at Seoul National University, Jung will address the theme "Choices and Opportunities in the AI Era," covering how AI technology is transforming industry and society and what future SK Telecom envisions for AI.

Subsequent sessions will be led in relay by SK Telecom AI development executives, team leaders and doctoral-level staff, including Yoo Kyung-sang, head of SK Telecom's AI CIC, and Kim Tae-yun, who oversees foundation models. Each will share practical knowledge accumulated on the job.

SK Telecom's AI lecture series with Seoul National University is now in its 10th year. The course has earned high ratings from graduate students and built a reputation as a program that bridges theory and real-world practice.

Over the past decade, SK Telecom has worked to develop domestic AI talent through industry-academia collaboration — running courses with leading universities including Seoul National University and conducting hands-on AI research programs for undergraduate and graduate students.

SK Telecom views nurturing the talent to lead AI's transformation of industries as directly tied to the company's sustainable growth. The company expects the course, which gives students access to working professionals' industry knowledge, to serve as a meaningful resource for promising AI talent.

"It is deeply meaningful that the industry-academia partnership we have built with Seoul National University over many years continues again through this course," Jung said. "We will keep collaborating with academia so that today's students can lead tomorrow's AI industry."


woo@heraldcorp.com