Korea's AI Race: LG Leads, Naver Cloud Left Behind

In a significant AI initiative, LG AI Research emerged as the frontrunner, while Naver Cloud was left out. The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) announced the news on January 15, 2026, highlighting LG's success and Naver Cloud's failure to meet the "sovereign" criteria, meaning they did not develop their AI from scratch.

Selection Process and Future Plans

The ministry plans to initially select three teams:

• LG
• Upstage
• SK Telecom

Additionally, they will seek one more team to join later, fostering competition and positioning Korea among the top three AI nations.

Why Naver Cloud Was Eliminated

Naver Cloud was disqualified for using pre-trained weights from an existing open model for their video and audio encoders. The rules require teams to train their models independently. The ministry clarified that using weights without updates does not qualify as building a sovereign AI model.

Future Guidelines and Support

The ministry plans to clarify the rules for future projects, encouraging open-source usage while ensuring teams train their models independently. They also pledged fair support, providing all teams with equal resources and time.

Confidentiality and National Pride

The ministry did not disclose the scores of the companies, emphasizing the goal of helping all teams improve and catch up to global AI leaders. They expressed confidence that Korea's AI models will soon become a source of national pride.