Opening the Next Chapter with New Leadership, an Interview with Honglak Lee and Woohyung Lim, Co-Heads of LG AI Research
Image 1. LG AI Research Co-Heads Honglak Lee (left) and Woohyung Lim (right)
LG AI Research's innovation did not happen overnight. Countless research efforts, collaborations, and the exceptional leadership at our core have driven today's achievements. Now, with new leadership at the helm, LG AI Research is embarking on a greater leap forward, drawing on our accumulated internal experience and insights while charting an even more ambitious vision.
The newly appointed Co-Heads, Co-Head Honglak Lee and Co-Head Woohyung Lim, have been key figures driving the growth of LG AI Research from the middle of it all. Over the past few years, they have led core projects at LG AI Research, playing important roles at the forefront of technological advancement and global collaboration. We met with the two Co-Heads in their new roles to hear about their journeys and the future they will open together for LG AI Research.
Interview with Co-Head Honglak Lee
"Transforming the real world with Physical AI"
Image 2. LG AI Research Co-Head Honglak Lee
Q. Congratulations on your appointment. Please tell us about your vision for LG AI Research's next chapter.
Thank you. LG AI Research has already demonstrated our world-class capabilities through EXAONE. Building on such capabilities, we aim to lead the way in “Interactive AI” technology.
I believe AI has now entered an era of full-fledged interaction. Whereas previously, AI primarily focused on recognizing and analyzing information to answer questions, it’s now evolving into a partner that understands the essence of complex problems users face and interacts directly with the world.
The ways AI interacts with the world can be broadly divided into two categories. Agentic AI interacts with the digital world, understanding complex task goals, and autonomously planning and executing actions to maximize productivity. On the other hand, Physical AI interacts with the physical world, integrating with robots, sensors, and experimental/production equipment to directly solve real-world problems.
Through the advancement of Interactive AI technology, AI will ultimately evolve into a true collaborative partner that maximizes not only people's productivity, but also their creativity and potential. My vision is for LG AI Research to lead this transformation.
Q. To achieve your vision of Interactive AI, what specific core technology fields do you plan to focus on to drive research forward?
'To implement Interactive AI, three core technology pillars need to develop organically.
First, we need to build a “World Model” optimized for each domain. A World Model is a model that internalizes the operational principles and causal relationships of the real world, enabling AI to effectively understand and predict it. LG AI Research aims to build customized World Models by integrating core data tailored to the characteristics of each field.
For example, models that analyze not only text but also diverse structured and unstructured data such as time-series data to discover new insights are effective in supporting complex data-driven decision-making. Models utilizing images and sensor data can be applied to process automation in manufacturing. Furthermore, research is expanding to integrated models encompassing vision, language, and sensor data for physical AI.
Second, autonomous decision-making and reasoning technology is also crucial. Interactive AI must go beyond merely understanding information, and must independently comprehend complex workflow procedures to achieve given goals. It must also establish action plans by breaking them down into smaller tasks, utilize necessary tools, and possess the ability to interact directly with the environment. LG AI Research is focusing on this autonomous agent technology as a core research priority.
Third, AI platform technology must be supported for practical industrial application. For AI to move beyond theoretical technology and create real-world value, a platform tailored to customer data and processes in real industrial settings is essential. LG AI Research is strengthening our platform technologies to integrate and scale AI into real business operations. These include ChatEXAONE, tailored for enterprise workflows, robust on-premise solutions boasting strong security, and data foundry technology that automatically generates domain-specific tuning data.
When these three pillars of technology work together seamlessly, our AI will achieve true “interaction” that creates tangible value across both the digital and physical worlds.
Image 3. LG AI Research Co-Head Honglak Lee
Q. Innovation through AI technology is expected to have a positive impact on human lives, going beyond mere technological development. What is the philosophy behind LG AI Research's pursuit of “human-centered AI”?
The “human-centered AI” I envision doesn’t merely stop at aiding human convenience. Its essence lies in solving humanity's most challenging problems, and amplifying creativity to jointly create greater value. In other words, the goal is not technology itself, but to build AI that substantially enhances human life.
Under this philosophy, LG AI Research actively integrates AI technology in fields with significant social impact such as new drug and material development, as well as eco-friendly battery development, to support expert research. Simultaneously, based on AI ethics principles, we plan to continuously strive and challenge ourselves to ensure transparency and accountability from the earliest stages of technology development, contributing to the establishment of an AI ecosystem that everyone can trust.
Q. Finally, do you have anything you'd like to share with our readers and those in the AI industry?
AI is now moving beyond merely processing data and generating content, and is entering a stage in which it directly interacts with both the digital and physical worlds, bringing fundamental changes to human life and industries as a whole.
Moving forward, alongside the outstanding researchers at LG AI Research, we plan to lead research to ensure AI becomes not just a tool, but an “intelligent partner” that collaborates with humans to define problems and find creative solutions. Furthermore, we’ll do our utmost to enable Korea to play a leading role in global AI technology and markets. I hope to receive your continued interest and support.
Interview with Co-Head Woohyung Lim
"Creating real innovation in AI"
Image 4. LG AI Research Co-Head Woohyung Lim
Q. Congratulations on your appointment as Co-Head. What synergy do you expect your diverse experience across various IT companies to bring to LG AI Research?
Thank you. Over the years, I’ve developed a wide range of AI services that directly provide value to consumers, gaining a deep understanding of what constitutes AI that customers truly need. I believe this experience will also provide important insights in the field of industrial AI, a core area of LG AI Research.
Industrial AI has to solve complex and unique business problems. This is because each industry has distinct data formats and quality, processes aren’t standardized, and field-specific constraints vary. Furthermore, the predictions and decisions made by AI directly impact actual productivity, safety, and profitability, presenting the challenge of simultaneously ensuring high accuracy and reliability.
Building on my experiences, I intend to focus on ensuring that LG AI Research's outstanding AI technology delivers practical value and meaningful results in industrial settings. Also, I intend to contribute to accelerating LG Group's AI transformation by applying world-class research outcomes to real-world business.
Q. As AI technology establishes itself as a key competitive advantage for businesses, the “commercialization of technology” has become increasingly important.
How does LG AI Research plan to collaborate with various business divisions within the LG Group to apply AI technology to real-world business operations and maximize customer value?
In the commercialization process of AI technology, accumulating verified results is crucial. Currently, EXAONE is being utilized within LG Group for real-world tasks such as enterprise AI agents (Chat EXAONE) and AI scheduling, demonstrating proven productivity gains. Building on this internal verification, we plan to expand and enhance specialized solutions for each business field, such as AI for protein structure prediction and AI for materials research. We’re also exploring expansion into new domains, like AI that provides business insights.
Above all, I believe the true value of AI technology lies in its ability to translate research outcomes into practical ROI in the real world, rather than leaving them confined to the lab. Moving forward, we will continue to collaborate closely to ensure LG AI Research's technologies deliver real-world results in industrial settings, creating changes that customers can truly feel.
Image 5. LG AI Research Co-Head Woohyung Lim
Q. What is LG AI Research's global AI leadership strategy?
Our goal is not merely to follow international achievements, but to enhance our capabilities so that Korea's AI technology can stand as a leader in global AI competition. In fact, EXAONE 4.0 has proven its competitiveness by ranking first among Korean models and eighth among AI development companies in a global AI intelligence evaluation.
We also plan to continue our efforts to build a global AI research ecosystem by working with AI experts all around the world. For this, we’re pursuing activities that increase openness, like releasing research materials through Hugging Face and expanding Spanish language support for EXAONE 4.0.
In particular, we’re conducting joint AI research with The Jackson Laboratory, a globally renowned authority in genome-based biomedical research, for Alzheimer's and cancer. By combining The Jackson Laboratory’s accumulated mouse experimental data on Alzheimer's across its life cycle with LG AI Research's AI technology, we’re advancing research to predict disease progression from genetic characteristics and analyze its underlying causes. The achievements of this collaboration have been recognized at global conferences, with six joint research papers from both institutions accepted: two at ICML 2025, and four at AAIC.
Additionally, LG AI Research is collaborating with LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group), which possesses extensive financial data, to develop financial prediction AI services. Based on EXAONE, this service will provide investment analysis insights, while LSEG plans to build an integrated platform to deliver these insights to its global customers, adding new value to the global financial market. By integrating cutting-edge AI technology into the financial industry, we aim to create new customer value within the global financial ecosystem and further expand the partnership between Korea and the UK into various industries.
From here on out, we plan to actively present our research findings at major international conferences and broaden our tangible global influence through collaborative projects with international partners.
Q. Finally, do you have anything you'd like to share with our readers and those in the AI industry?
The philosophy and aim of LG AI Research is to ensure cutting-edge AI technology doesn’t remain confined to research achievements alone, but is connected to real-world industries and customer value. To achieve this, we plan to enhance our close collaboration structure and execution system not only with LG Group affiliates, but also with domestic and international partners. We intend to spare no effort to position LG AI Research as a trusted technology leader driving the global AI ecosystem.
Image 6. LG AI Research Co-Heads Woohyung Lim (left) and Honglak Lee (right)
The stories of the two Co-Heads come together into one message: change and innovation do not stem solely from a pursuit of novelty, but are built upon accumulated experience and insight. LG AI Research will strengthen our expertise based on our newly established leadership structure, and solidify our global leadership in AI by leveraging the research capabilities we have built over time.
Under the leadership of Co-Head Honglak Lee and Co-Head Woohyung Lim, LG AI Research will continue to unlock new possibilities in AI and drive innovation across industries. Stay tuned, and look forward to our future endeavors.