LG AI Expert Course to Strengthen AI Capability Through Learning and Collaboration

LG AI Research is making significant efforts to train AI professionals to secure the LG Group’s unrivaled AI capabilities in the rapidly changing AI industry. The LG AI Expert Course, along with the AI Graduate School that opened in March, is LG AI Research’s special training program to secure talented employees to lead the AI industry.

On June 20, the first performance-sharing event was held to commemorate the successful completion of the 2022 LG AI Expert Course for the year's first half. This performance-sharing event was more meaningful as it was held offline due to the easing of restrictions on social distancing. Participants, mentors, and team members, who had worked hard for a long time and completed the program, gathered to meet familiar faces and sincerely congratulate each other.

The LG AI Expert Course is a 12-week AI professional training course designed to secure talents with the knowledge and competency to lead AI projects within the LG Group. Through one-to-one mentoring provided by AI specialists of LG AI Research for 12 weeks, participants get opportunities to apply the latest AI technology to LG Group affiliates' business tasks and grow into professionals capable of self-reinforcing individual capabilities. The first training program in 2022 was held from February 15 to May 4, participated by 15 trainees from six affiliates.

Jungyun Seo, the AI Talent Development Supervisor of LG AI Research, announced the event's start with a congratulatory speech. He congratulated the trainees for completing the programs and thanked the LG AI Research's mentors for laying the foundation for AI development through their dedicated services and efforts. “I would like to congratulate all the trainees and AI mentors for their hard efforts to solve the problems of each affiliate for the past 12 weeks,” Professor Seo said. He emphasized the purpose of the LG AI Expert Course by adding, “Now, we are introducing new products and services by integrating AI technology in all fields and developing new process methods and inspection methods. I hope this LG AI Expert Course will be an opportunity and a place of cooperation for LG Group’s affiliates to come together in an era where we need to develop various ways to improve productivity through AI technology and become a market leader.”

Professor Seo’s speech was followed by the presentation of completion certificates to all trainees and a congratulatory remark by Kyunghoon Bae, Representative of LG AI Research. He encouraged all the trainees by saying, “As the AI field is constantly evolving, we need to research it with constant interest. I hope that all graduates here will continue to stay interested in the field as LG AI Expert Course alumni.”

2022 LG AI Expert Course 1st Completion Ceremony and Performance Sharing Event

Of the 15 trainees who successfully completed the course, 3 were selected for the honor of BP (Best Practice) for performing the best research assignments. BPs were selected by evaluation of LG AI Research’s employees (40%) and internal judges (60%). The internal judges carefully evaluated technical challenges, business values, and ripple effects, as well as educational growth from various perspectives.

As a result, the first place was awarded to the “Development of a bad cell detection method using the activation charge/discharge profile” conducted by Dohyun Park, Specialist at LG Energy Solution (Mentor: Yeseul Shim of Applied AI Research Lab, LG AI Research). “Development of refrigerator abnormality classification model” by Cholok Han, Senior Researcher at LG Electronics (mentor: Dongsup Jin of Applied AI Research Lab, LG AI Research) and “Development of AI utilization model to find hit drugs” by Kibub Kim of LG Chem (mentor: Rodrigo of MI Lab, LG AI Research) ranked the second and third place, respectively.

Research awarded the 1st place BP: “Development of a bad cell detection method using the activation charge/discharge profile” by Dohyun Park, Specialist at LG Energy Solution

Dohyun Park, Senior Researcher at LG Energy Solution

Dohyun Park of LG Energy Solution researched to develop a method of detecting defects using only normal product data in the battery manufacturing process where it is difficult to collect data on defective products. If the developed technology is successfully applied in the field, it is possible to prevent the leak of defective products and reduce the cost of post-production that arises from handling defects. The model is currently applied to a battery production line for monitoring and verification. Upon presenting the research project, Park expressed his gratitude to the AI Research mentors for the help in understanding the latest AI technology trends and for cultivating practical problem-solving skills through the education program.

Research awarded the 2nd place BP: “Development of refrigerator abnormality classification model” by Cholok Han, Senior Researcher at LG Electronics

Cholok Han of LG Electronics researched to reduce the time required to update the logic for each platform for diagnosis service in case of a product defect. The abnormal model classification technology of this research using AI technology to automate the logic update process of each platform is currently in the process of verifying the model with the operational data. Han expressed satisfaction through the course by saying that it was able to learn various skills to effectively improve the research process by applying it in the field.

Research awarded the 3rd place BP: “Development of AI utilization model to find hit drugs” by Kibub Kim of LG Chem

Kibub Kim of LG Chem

Kibub Kim of LG Chem researched to develop an AI utilization model to find hit drugs. The model is currently applied to find active drugs in the field. Kim commented that the one-to-one mentoring of the LG AI Expert Course gave him the opportunity to learn how to utilize large amounts of data efficiently. He also said that it was particularly useful as he could acquire and directly experience practical knowledge that can be utilized in the field.

After presenting the BP awards and the research projects, Yeseul Sim of the Applied AI Research Lab, who mentored Dohyun Park, the winner of the BP 1st Place Award, expressed her feelings on behalf of the AI researcher mentors. Shim gave encouragement and congratulations to all the trainees who completed the AI Expert Course while also introducing the most important factors in AI technology research. She advised that AI researchers should obtain as much accurate data as possible and clearly define the problem to organize the research process efficiently. She also said it was important to try small tasks first and feel a sense of accomplishment rather than being discouraged after trying to achieve great results at once. Shim also emphasized that it would be great to know both the domain and AI knowledge in the field, and if not, close communication with each other is essential. Mentor Shim finished her remarks by saying that she expects the trainees to research AI technology and use it in the field actively.

This first performance-sharing meeting of the LG AI Expert Course in 2022 was meaningful that it confirmed the passion of LG Group affiliates’ employees for AI technology and proved that there are many possibilities to prove that AI technologies can be applied to solving problems in the field. LG AI Research looks forward to everyone’s continued interest in the company's active participation in the LG Group's AI professional development programs and enhancement of AI capabilities by using the latest AI technology to solve business problems across the LG Group.

▶Grand opening of LG AI Graduate School, the special education provided by LG AI Research to train LG group’s professionals (Link)