SK Telecom is applying its proprietary mega-AI model to the defense administration sector in collaboration with the government. This marks the first time a domestically developed AI model by a private company has entered the demonstration phase in the defense field. This is seen as significant, as it signals the government's "Independent AI Foundation Model" project beginning to expand into actual public and defense environments.

SK Telecom announced on the 14th that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of National Defense regarding the "utilization of proprietary AI foundation models in the defense sector" at the SKT Tower in Euljiro, Jung-gu, Seoul. The event was attended by Kim Myung-kook, Head of SK Telecom's Industrial AI Division, and Jeon Jun-beom, Director General of the Defense AI Planning Bureau at the Ministry of National Defense, among others. This agreement was established as a follow-up measure to the proprietary AI model project being promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Both sides agreed to cooperate on the development and demonstration of defense-specific AI models, the utilization of open defense data, and the provision of GPU resources linked to national AI projects. The Ministry of National Defense plans to provide GPU resources secured through government AI projects during the second quarter of this year, and SK Telecom plans to utilize them to develop AI models optimized for the defense environment.

This project utilizes the underlying technology of SK Telecom's ultra-large AI model, 'AX K1'. Earlier this year, this model advanced to Phase 2 of the government's independent AI Foundation Model Project. SK Telecom plans to increase processing speed by applying lightweighting technology to the Large-Scale Language Model (LLM) and further enhance the model to suit the military environment by additionally training it with defense data.

The industry views this collaboration as having significance beyond a simple AI administrative support project. This is because, given that the defense sector requires a high level of security and data control, it aligns with the government's strategy to reduce dependence on foreign AI and build a 'Sovereign AI' based on domestic technology.

The government also plans to expand cooperation with private AI companies. The Ministry of National Defense plans to broaden the scope of AI application across the entire defense sector, while the Ministry of Science and ICT plans to simultaneously support GPU infrastructure and expand the AI ecosystem. For domestic AI companies, there is also a possibility that the public and defense sectors will emerge as new markets for demonstration.