The Korea Physical AI Association held its first New Year's greeting ceremony since officially launching in October of last year, and declared its intention to "contribute to making South Korea the strongest nation in physical AI."

The event, held on the 2nd at the KBIZ Hall of the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, was conducted under the theme of how to build 'South Korea, the Strongest Nation in Physical AI'. Physical AI refers to AI (artificial intelligence) that directly acts and performs tasks in the physical environment through smart devices such as robots.

Korea Physical AI Association President Yoo Tae-jun, also CEO of Maum AI, stated, "The government has declared it will make South Korea one of the top 3 AI nations and there is great enthusiasm for becoming the strongest physical AI nation," adding, "The whole world is talking about physical AI, and we will strive to contribute to (South Korea) becoming the strongest nation in physical AI at the forefront."

He further added, "Over 110 member companies are voluntarily active," and "We will promote data factory construction projects, physical AI challenges, and talent cultivation this year."

Representative Jeong Jin-wook of the Democratic Party of Korea said in his congratulatory speech, "The AI revolution has begun, and those of you here are the drivers of innovation, just like the people who changed South Korea more than 30 years ago," emphasizing that "the future of South Korea depends on you."

Representative Ahn Do-geol of the Democratic Party of Korea also stated, "Physical AI can dramatically increase productivity," and "We will do everything we can institutionally to allow physical AI to bloom quickly as we rapidly transition South Korea's growth engine."

Representative Choi Hyung-du of the People Power Party stated, "We will strive to make South Korea achieve great leaps in all industrial sectors through physical AI," and "In physical AI, we will unite across party lines and accelerate whole-government, bipartisan support."

Park Tae-hwan, Director of Information and Communication Industry Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "Physical AI is not just AX (AI transformation), but must be implemented in robots and various devices in daily life," adding, "We will support industry and academia to unite as one team."

Guest speaker Kwon Jang-woo, Director at Inha University, announced regarding 'Physical AI Industry Cooperation Directions' that "A track related to physical AI is scheduled to be actually established," and "Universities will train excellent talent and supply them to Korea Physical AI Association member companies." He particularly urged the collaborative creation of industry-academia cooperation models specifically tailored to physical AI.

Cha Hee-jun, Executive Vice President of NVIDIA Korea, said, "I felt that we should not go alone but together," and "I am thinking about how companies can earn money from AI as quickly as possible." He added, "From a company's perspective, the goal is to productize the fastest way to earn money using existing (AI), so there's no need to develop (the entire AI)." He expressed his desire to see "Korean companies making money (with AI)."

Son Byung-hee, Research Director at Maum AI, said, "The reason data factories are important is because they have standards, which allows for the creation of high-quality data," and "The learning unit for (physical AI) should be a task perspective, not a robot perspective." He added, "If high-quality data is created locally, it becomes locally specialized data," and predicted that "If AI keeps learning within the industry, the high-quality robots created this way will go to factories in Korea, but they will also become robots that go to factories in the US."

Source :  MoneyToday