[Excerpt from an IT Chosun interview]
"Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the disruptive technologies. In the early days the differentiation of AI technology is not great, but over time it will completely reshape the market." This is how Professor Koo Myoung-wan of Sogang University's Department of Computer Science & Engineering introduced AI.
Professor Koo, who takes part in the Smart Interaction Industry–Academia Cluster together with industry, held an 'AI Camp' over two days on the 20th and 21st at Sogang University in Mapo-gu, Seoul, together with the Sogang Artificial Intelligence Institute and the Korea Association of Women IT Entrepreneurs, among others.
Professor Koo rated Korea's AI potential highly. "Before AI technology took off, there were not many specialists in Korea. But as interest in AI technology and public and private support have increased, the number of specialists in industry and academia has grown rapidly." He went on to explain: "We should note that the barriers to entry in AI technology today are not high. Open-source software is spreading, so if only the right infrastructure is supported, starting a business is not particularly difficult." He stressed, however, that because the global AI boom brings new concepts every three or four months, sustained attention and support are needed to raise national AI competitiveness. He also predicted that AI will spread across every industry.
"In the past, AI technology was applied in particular areas such as computing and electronics, but recently it has been spreading across every field. As AI technology becomes the foundation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, every industry needs it." He stressed, though, that because AI technology does not produce results in a short time, sustained support for the related technology and workforce is needed. He also called for bold government investment. "Because AI is at an early stage, the investment risk is high. But if results emerge, large returns can be expected," Professor Koo said, urging the government to support research and development in industry and academia by backing fields with strong future growth potential. The two-day AI Camp on the 20th and 21st is a forum for sharing research results to date with industry. This year the programme covers an introduction to AI business and practical work in natural language processing technology, under the theme of understanding and practising deep neural network (DNN) based natural language processing. Professor Koo said: "It will be a forum for raising companies' competitiveness in AI technology while also improving the prospects for future joint industry–academia research." Professor Koo leads Sogang University's Smart Interaction Industry–Academia Cluster, which brings together academia and industry interested in AI-based spoken dialogue processing technology. "It is a voluntary gathering of industry and academia, without government support," he explained, "and it aims at planning and taking part in joint research in future through information exchange and education."
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