"생성 AI가 촉발하고 있는 변화는 우리 모두에게 위기보다는 기회가 될 것이다. 이번 행사를 통해 SK가 AI를 통해 만들어가는 현재와 미래의 모습을 확인하시길 바란다" SK그룹의 기술 역량을 결집해 산업 생태계 조성과 확장을 도모하는 테크 컨퍼런스 'SK 테크 서밋 2023'이 삼성동 코엑스에서 개막했다. 이번 행사의 사전등록자는 9,600명에 달했다.
▲SKT President Yoo Young-sang
Held at COEX on the 16th and 17th...SK Group gathers together
'Telco Specialized LLM', Telco Data Optimization
Sapion's New AI Semiconductor X330 First Revealed
“The changes that generative AI is bringing about will be an opportunity rather than a crisis for all of us. I hope that through this event, you will be able to see the present and future that SK is creating through AI.”
SKT President Yoo Young-sang, who is also the Chairman of SK Group ICT, said this in his opening remarks.
SK Group held a tech conference and pooled its technological capabilities to create and expand an industrial ecosystem.
SK Group held the 'SK Tech Summit 2023' for two days from the 16th to the 17th at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, showcasing 192 technologies prepared by 17 affiliates. Pre-registration for this event reached 9,600 people.
■ President Yoo Young-sang emphasizes global AI cooperation President Yoo expressed his confidence in making the leap forward as a global AI group, saying, “Out of the 192 exhibition presentations at this year’s event, 60% of the sessions were about AI.”
In particular, CEO Yoo emphasized all-round cooperation. He emphasized cooperation with big tech companies such as Antropic, Google, AWS, and the K-AI Alliance this year, saying, “We will make this the first year of the Global SK Tech Summit.”
In the AI era that has arrived with the trigger of generative AI, companies are also reorganizing their business growth strategies with AI technology. The global generative AI market is also expected to grow tenfold by 2026 due to the expansion of AI adoption.
“Like the gold rush in the 19th century, it is important to be the first to secure and respond to AI-based opportunities,” said CEO Yoo. “The future will change based on the AI technology we currently have.”
■ SKT, applying 'Telco specialized LLM' to core business 
▲SKT Jeong Seok-geun, Global/AI Tech Business Division Manager
Next, SKT Global/AI Tech Business Division Manager Jeong Seok-geun introduced SKT's 'Telco-specific LLM (Large Language Model)' in his keynote speech.
Director Jeong once again mentioned the self-reliance and cooperation that he had emphasized when he unveiled the 'AI Pyramid Strategy' last September. The AI Pyramid Strategy is a strategy for SKT to leap forward as a global AI company in the three areas of AI infrastructure, AIX, and AI services. “Telcos need to think about how to apply and utilize AI for their paying customers,” said Jeong, adding that securing their own technology while securing external power is emphasized in order to flexibly utilize many technologies, including cores.
Mr. Jeong said, “SKT will create many references for the most efficient use of AI based on the know-how it has gained from businesses such as telecommunications, semiconductors, O2O, mobility, security, and commerce, and will pursue aggressive strategies based on these.”
Telco-specific LLM is ultimately a 'customer-specific LLM'. For the Telco-specific LLM, SKT 'pre-trains' its own LLM A.dotx based on telco data, such as various standard devices, equipment manuals, and conversations with telecommunications company consultants, and 'fine-tunes' it with open sources such as Global Antropic and Open AI Lama. This provides optimized AI technology for Telco's corporate, customer, and service aspects.
Mr. Jeong said, “SKT will secure competitiveness in the AI era by incorporating AI into its core businesses such as mobile, marketing, broadband, media, recommendations, and enterprise.”
■ Lots to see, including keynote speeches, conferences, and experience zones In the keynote speech that followed, Jared Kaplan, the developer of GPT-3 and co-founder (and current CSO) of Antropic, introduced the current status and future prospects of Antropic's LLM development and revealed the direction of cooperation with SK. “AI systems can get more useful computing power with more data,” he said.
AWS's Slavic Dimitrovich, Global Head of Solutions Architecture for AI/ML, emphasized that "the introduction of specialized AI models will expand in 2025," and that "we need to adopt a production mindset and introduce generative AI from small parts."
Next, Google's Vice President of Cloud AI Warren Barkley presented the future vision and application cases of generative AI, and Moloco CEO Ahn Ik-jin presented the AI innovation triggered by generative AI.
Meanwhile, at this event, SKT-founded AI semiconductor company 'Sapion' CEO Ryu Su-jeong attended the event in person and unveiled the next-generation AI semiconductor 'X330' for the first time. 'X330' is a product that boasts approximately twice the computational performance of other companies' latest inference models while also improving power efficiency by 1.3 times.
Among the 90 booths set up on the first floor, the Adot Experience Zone attracted the attention of visitors by creating a large Adot phone booth as an experience space and photo zone. SKT's AI personal assistant service Adot has attracted attention by providing call recording through the iPhone app 'A. Phone'.
In addition, all 16 companies of the K-AI Alliance participated in this event, allowing visitors to see SK Group's global cooperation.
The AI data center cooling technology developed through collaboration between SK affiliates also attracted attention. More than half of the electricity consumed by AI data centers is used to cool them, and SKT, together with SK Enmove and others, has developed and exhibited 'immersion cooling' technology, a next-generation thermal management method that cools data centers by adding special cooling oil.