Special Training of LG AI Research for the Talents of LG Group, Grand Opening of LG AI Graduate School

LG AI Research, launched in 2020, provided innovative customer experiences as well as converted diverse talents within LG Group into AI talents to create a better life and established programs aimed at nurturing various talents, thereby producing countless AI talents. Refusing to settle here, LG AI Research now embarks on a new challenge to develop AI talents. As the importance of AI industry is growing day by day, the “battle to secure AI talents” is sweeping the global AI industry. There are not only limits to the scale of human talents that can be sourced externally but it was also extremely difficult to find talents that have a clear understanding of the actual works of LG Group which has businesses that span across multiple industries. LG AI Graduate School is born with such a background. LG AI Research will bring innovation to the development system for AI talents through LG AI Graduate School.

Successful launch based on the pilot program

Trainees of 2021 Master of AI having thesis seminar

The official debut of the school today did not happen overnight. From March 2021, LG AI Research operated “2021 LG Master of AI,” a pilot program for LG AI Graduate School, for nine months. Unlike other AI graduate schools that focus on theoretical works, the project outstood in the sense that it nurtured talents that could participate in the actual works after the completion of the course. In fact, four trainees participated in the 2021 LG Master of AI from LG Display, LG Chem, LG Innotek, and LG CNS and acquired master's degrees. Since then, they have returned to their position and are leading AI projects. Trainees who participated in the program said that they were able to spend ample time to solve problems and have discussions, leaving positive reviews stating that they enjoyed the special privilege of having a tutor throughout the intensive training program.

LG AI Graduate School held professor appointment ceremony

With the successful pilot program, LG AI Research launches the LG AI Graduate School which offers more systematic training programs and enhanced convenience for trainees. In particular, LG AI Research significantly expanded its quota, showing off its firm ambition to develop AI talents. The program will recruit 11 participants this year, more than twice the scale of the previous year’s pilot program. Planning to accept 30 trainees in 2023, we will gradually increase the number of participants. With these efforts, we will enhance the AI capabilities of LG Group with the AI talents developed in the LG AI Graduate School.

Moreover, in the coursework program, along with theoretical and practical lectures, participants would select one subject from Computer Vision, Language, Applied AI Research, Materials Informatics, and Fundamental Research and conduct research activities based on various data and up-to-date references introduced to global research institutes under the guidance of an academic advisor. Furthermore, they would acquire access to open AI lectures provided by prominent domestic and global education providers and learning materials such as K-MOOC to supplement their prerequisite, basic, and advanced AI knowledge.

LMS webpage for trainees in the LG HUB 

LG AI Graduate School has also greatly improved the program to facilitate trainees’ convenience. Although the pilot program in 2020 received more than 90% of positive reviews from the program participants, LG AI Research took a step further and implemented various efforts to improve the program to make it even more convenient for the participants, one of it being the establishment of a separate Learning Management System (LMS) portal for trainees within the LG HUB. In particular, the trainee-exclusive portal is linked with Elice, the digital education and practice platform that provides various AI-related content, and uses it to provide quality and rich content and materials. From this year onward, students in LG Graduate School of AI will be able to take online lectures through the LMS portal, have access to papers recommended by each research lab, and check announcements such as academic calendar.

Differentiates of LG AI Graduate School

What makes LG AI Graduate School more special is that the students can graduate and immediately return to their work and lead projects. As LG AI Graduate School is a program provided for employees of the affiliated companies of LG, all program participants have sufficient knowledge in their fields. This allows them to connect what they learn from the program to their works and apply it immediately.

In addition, LG AI Graduate School focuses on applicable cases and examples instead of filling the curriculum with theory-focused lectures, selecting the actual tasks faced by the LG affiliates as research topics. The fact that the data from the entire LG Group with world-class technological prowess in electronic, chemicals, communications industries can be utilized is one of the most outstanding advantages of this program that cannot be enjoyed in any other AI graduate schools around the world. By selecting issues that are faced in the fields in real-time, the program allows the students to not only have a basic understanding of technology but acquire the capabilities to apply them in the real world. Through this course, graduates of LG Graduate School of AI will return to their positions and become talents that can resolve on-site and business challenges. Professor Woohyung Lim at Applied AI Research Lab commented, “We guide our students to resolve various issues in the field after returning to their work based on the capabilities that they acquired in LG AI Graduate School,” stating his instruction philosophy that focuses on on-site works.

LG AI Graduate School has an excellent faculty led by Kyunghoon Bae, the president of LG AI Graduate School, and professor Honglak Lee, a world-class scholar who has been selected as one of the 10 key AI researchers in the world by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), along with other renowned academics. LG AI Graduate School where a faculty of globally renowned academics who have solved the most difficult AI problems in the five fields of Computer Vision, Language, Applied AI Research, Materials Informatics, and Fundamental Research in LG Group offers high-standard academic understanding and on-site application of knowledge will provide an unmatched educational course.

LG AI Graduate School’s Master and Doctoral Course

LG AI Graduate School which will be open this year offers a master's degree course and doctorate course. We recruited employees of the affiliated companies of LG Group that can use AI techniques in their work for the master’s degree course and employees with an AI master’s degree for the doctorate course. When a student completes the course and passes the thesis review, he/she will receive a master’s degree/doctorate that will be recognized within LG Group. In this case, the student will be recognized as an employee with a master’s degree or doctorate under the group’s HR system and will be registered on the AI talent list managed by LG AI Research and lead AI projects in his/her organization.

The master’s degree course of LG AI Graduate School lasts for nine months where participants will study full-time as dispatched workers. After commencing the course, the participants will begin by conducting studies in the field that they wish to research. Then, they will continue the coursework and research and graduate once their thesis paper is successfully reviewed. The participants will receive guidance from 13 leaders of LG AI Research who have doctorates. They are mandated to take classes of core and advanced courses and partake in at least five research seminars.

The doctorate course of LG AI Graduate School of 18 months duration is, unlike the master’s degree course, a part-time program. The participants are required to partake in seminar sessions at least 15 times under the guidance of the supervising professor at the AI Research as well as research committee members in LG AI Research. To graduate, students need to complete a thesis paper and publish one journal in an SCI/SSCI-level academic journal.

LG AI Graduate School aims to develop on-site AI talents who would bring innovations to LG Group with the help of the systematic education program and world-class teaching faculty. Through this program, we will enhance the AI capabilities of LG Group in diverse industries and, ultimately, present AI technologies that can bring actual changes to our lives. We would appreciate your support and interest in LG AI Graduate School which will become the cradle of talents that will lead the global AI industry starting this year. For more detailed information, please visit the official website of LG AI Graduate School.