2024-04-27 14:15:38
Governments of each country and companies compete for AI talent
Korean companies also need to secure AI talent
Traveling to domestic and overseas universities to recruit talent
There are voices calling for “expanding investment at the government level”
As the competition for artificial intelligence (AI) development intensifies, domestic companies are also at risk of securing key AI talent. In particular, the problem of talent shortage in the domestic AI industry is becoming more serious as big tech companies are wiping out all of the world’s research personnel based on their enormous financial power.
According to the ‘AI Index 2024’ report published on the 15th by Stanford University’s Human-Centered AI Institute (HAI), Korea was the country with the third largest outflow of AI talent last year, following India and Israel.
As a result of HAI’s survey of AI-related human resource movement trends per 10,000 registered members on LinkedIn between 2019 and 2023, Korea recorded -0.30 last year. A minus number means that more talent has flowed overseas than has flown into a particular country.
This indicator, which was 0.30 in 2020, lowered in 2021 and 2022, and showed a significant minus last year. India (-0.76) and Israel (-0.57) were also found to be countries with a serious brain drain. The United States recorded 0.40.
There is an analysis that the reduction in investment size has had an effect on the exodus of talented people from Korea. Developing core original technologies or large language models (LLM) requires enormous capital and time. This is why the United States, with its active investment and large scale, is bound to have an advantage in AI technology development.
In fact, AI investment in Korea is at a low level. According to the report, the United States ranked first in private investment last year, recording about $67.2 billion (about KRW 92.67 trillion), which was overwhelming even compared to China ($7.76 billion), which ranked second. On the other hand, Korea ranked 9th out of 15 countries with USD 1.39 billion (about KRW 1.94 trillion), the same level as India. Korea was ranked 6th with $3.1 billion in 2022, but was pushed back 3 places as investment amount decreased by more than half in one year.
In order to increase AI competitiveness, it is necessary to secure talent capable of developing core technologies, so domestic companies are also putting their lives at risk in recruiting AI talent.
LG U+ CEO Hwang Hyun-sik personally flew to Silicon Valley in the U.S. to attract talent. President Hwang hosted an event to share his vision for the future of AI by inviting about 10 master’s and doctoral degrees in the AI field from major U.S. universities, including Stanford University, Georgia Tech, and the University of Illinois. These are AI researchers that LG U+ connected with through U.S. campus recruiting in January. LG U+ is in the process of recruiting ‘AI Scientists’ to be in charge of LLM development until the end of June.
SK Telecom is also working to secure future talent through the AI talent training program ‘SK Telecom AI Fellowship’. The program provides corporate work experience to college and graduate students studying AI and provides benefits for passing the first round of screening when hiring new employees. Previously, KT announced a large-scale recruitment plan of about 1,000 people in February to recruit talent in the AI field.
As the surge in demand for AI semiconductor chips is expected to continue for a long time, domestic semiconductor industries such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also preparing. Both companies, which have confirmed the construction of production facilities in the United States, are focusing on securing talent through partnerships with local universities. Samsung Electronics is implementing a semiconductor talent development program in partnership with the University of Texas and Austin Community College. In addition, Samsung Electronics’ DS division began recruiting experienced employees in the ‘general artificial intelligence (AGI)’ field. It is interpreted that the company is seeking to strengthen its workforce to speed up the launch of its self-developed AI chip ‘Mach-1’ and the development of follow-up products, aiming for mass production at the end of the year.
SK Hynix also announced an investment worth $3.87 billion in its production base in Indiana, USA, and plans to strengthen semiconductor research and development (R&D) cooperation with local research institutes such as nearby Purdue University. An industry official said, “The phenomenon of AI talent, which is in short supply due to abundant financial resources, being leaked overseas to big tech companies in the U.S. is worsening,” adding, “There is a need to actively attract overseas talent by preparing measures at the corporate and government level.” “There is,” he said.
Reporter Nam Hye-jeong namduck2@donga.com
global focus
subscribe
-
Birth rate, back to ‘1.0’
-
today’s horoscope
-
Yesterday’s professional baseball
-
- great
- 0dog
-
- I’m so sad
- 0dog
-
- I’m angry
- 0dog
-
- I recommend it
- dog
Hot news now
2024-04-27 14:15:38