Motif Cut From Round 2 of South Korea’s National AI Model Project, Leaving Three Contenders

LG AI Research, SK Telecom and Upstage Advance

Final Two Teams to Be Chosen by Year-End

South Korea’s government project to select a "national representative AI" has been narrowed to three contenders: LG AI Research, SK Telecom and Upstage.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on August 18 that Motif Technologies had been eliminated in the second-stage evaluation of the country’s homegrown AI foundation model project.

LG AI Research, SK Telecom and Upstage will move on to the next round.

Motif was a late entrant that joined the project’s shortlisted teams through an additional call for applications in February. It had fueled expectations of an upset after receiving the highest score among participating companies in a recent assessment by global AI evaluator Artificial Analysis, but it did not advance.

The second-round evaluation combined benchmark tests, expert reviews and a public assessment in which 200 citizens used each model directly. The review covered not only model performance, but also independence, practical applicability and AI agent capabilities.

The government plans additional evaluations for the three remaining teams before choosing the final two by year-end.

Lee Young-ae, Hankyung.com reporter, 0ae@hankyung.com