• 5-year, multibillion-dollar strategic partnership to drive AI transformation for greater than 650,000 companies and 17 million customers throughout Korea
• Korea-customized AI mannequin collaboration, together with OpenAI’s GPT-4o by way of Azure OpenAI Service, to allow rising AI use circumstances for various {industry} verticals
• KT and Microsoft collaborate on Korean sovereign cloud answer growth and market launch to drive cloud and AI innovation for the general public sector and controlled industries
• KT will launch a brand new AX-specialized service firm delivering Microsoft-powered AI transformation service to enterprise prospects
• KT and Microsoft to additional companion for AI ecosystem growth and joint R&D, by way of initiatives together with an AX co-innovation heart and a Microsoft Analysis collaboration
Editor’s notice — Sept. 28, 2024 — This launch has been up to date to point that KT will even use Microsoft Copilot Studio in addition to Azure AI Studio to develop {custom} AI brokers.
SOUTH KOREA and REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 29, 2024 — KT Company and Microsoft Corp. on Sunday unveiled a five-year multibillion-dollar partnership, which incorporates an funding from KT within the areas of Synthetic Intelligence (AI), cloud applied sciences, and IT enterprise, and a useful resource dedication from Microsoft within the areas of infrastructure and other people. Via this partnership, the businesses will propel KT’s AI and ICT (AICT) transformation, and speed up the development of AI companies and innovation in Korea.
Following the settlement in June, KT and Microsoft have engaged in ongoing discussions to strengthen ties and description key areas of collaboration and help. This strategic partnership is anticipated to drive progress in 5 pivotal areas: Improvement of custom-made AI options for Korea, delivering Korean sovereign cloud options, the institution of an AI transformation (AX)-specialized service firm, AI R&D capabilities development throughout Korea and KT’s AICT transformation.
Creating Personalized AI Options for Korea
KT and Microsoft will have interaction in engineering collaboration to develop a custom-made model of GPT-4o and discover growing a custom-made model of Microsoft’s Phi household of small language fashions, with KT’s intensive set of high-quality knowledge round Korean tradition and industries. These fashions will likely be used for each KT’s inside and consumer-facing functions similar to customer support chatbots, and in addition for constructing industry-specific AI options for B2B prospects throughout {industry} verticals to finest serve the wants of Korean customers and companies. KT will leverage Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Studio to develop {custom} AI brokers geared toward differentiating buyer experiences. KT plans to develop the event and utilization of KT-custom AI brokers not just for client use circumstances in schooling, healthcare, and in-vehicle infotainment, but additionally for enterprise functions. Importantly, Microsoft and KT will collaborate carefully on additional evolving KT’s Accountable AI framework to assist make sure the supply of secure AI companies for the Korea market.
“We’re delighted with the partnership between KT and Microsoft, which presents a worthwhile alternative to reinforce our digital competitiveness,” mentioned Shinhan Financial institution, a number one monetary group in Korea. “By using the KT GPT mannequin, specialised in Korean language and monetary companies, we goal to ship revolutionary AI-driven companies to the home monetary customers.”
Delivering Korean sovereign cloud options
KT and Microsoft are partnering to develop and launch Safe Public Cloud companies, which is KT’s sovereign cloud answer constructed on Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty for Korean-regulated industries. KT will drive its Safe Public Cloud enterprise with help from Microsoft, enabling public sector and controlled {industry} prospects to make use of new platform capabilities for securing knowledge and workloads, offering entry to the most recent cloud and AI options out there on Azure and serving to them adjust to native privateness and regulatory necessities.
Accelerating AI transformation by way of AX-Specialised service firm
KT will set up a brand new AX-specialized service firm to assist companies in Korea rework with the most recent AI innovation. The forthcoming KT’s AX-specialized service firm will present superior Microsoft Cloud and AI experience and options to the Korean market, with plans to develop to broader markets, together with ASEAN. Microsoft will help this initiative over the following three years with skilled consulting assets to construct core practices and capabilities for the brand new entity.
Advancing AI R&D capabilities throughout Korea
Microsoft will help KT in establishing a co-innovation heart geared toward accelerating Microsoft technology-driven AI transformation within the Korean market. This heart will assist companies construct, develop and prototype new AI options with Microsoft know-how and KT’s AI specialists. Moreover, KT will spend money on fostering new AI startups and growing a companion ecosystem to help nationwide AI transformation. Microsoft will help this initiative by offering Azure credit and technical experience. For the way forward for know-how collaboration, KT and Microsoft Analysis (MSR)’s analysis leaders and enterprise visionaries will discover high-impact analysis initiatives in community modernization, AI for healthcare, and {industry} AI adoption and additional collaborate with main tutorial establishments partnering with KT.
Accelerating KT’s AICT Transformation with organization-wide upskilling
KT will migrate and modernize present IT workloads together with mission-critical functions, to Microsoft Azure whereas growing a brand new knowledge platform and AI companies powered by Microsoft Cloth and Azure OpenAI Service. This collaboration will improve KT’s general IT infrastructure, making it extra agile, resilient, and safe, driving innovation and elevating the client expertise by way of clever automation. KT additionally intends to deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot, for all KT workers and builders to supercharge productiveness of your complete enterprise. Microsoft will help KT in equipping greater than 19,000 workers with cloud and AI abilities and enabling greater than 5,800 AX specialists to steer a profitable transformation by way of KT group-wide skilling and co-engineering help.
“The partnership with Microsoft presents a pivotal alternative, not just for technological collaboration but additionally for increasing Korea’s AI basis and driving transformative innovation throughout industries and every day life,” mentioned KT CEO Younger-Shub Kim. “Leveraging this strategic partnership, we goal to quickly evolve into an AICT firm with unparalleled competitiveness in home and international markets.”
“Our strategic partnership brings collectively KT’s {industry} experience with the facility of our total tech stack, from Azure AI to Microsoft 365 Copilot,” mentioned Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft. “Collectively, we are going to assist speed up the AI transformation of Korean organizations throughout the non-public and public sector and construct new AI-powered experiences for tens of millions of customers.”
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About KT Company
KT Company is a number one firm in Korea’s telecommunications and ICT industries. By constructing an AX innovation platform primarily based on differentiated AI, Large Knowledge and Cloud competitiveness, and providing it with excellent community infrastructure, KT is driving evolution into an AICT (AI and ICT) firm.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and instruments powered by AI to ship revolutionary options that meet the evolving wants of our prospects. The know-how firm is dedicated to creating AI out there broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower each particular person and each group on the planet to realize extra.
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Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for Microsoft, (425) 638-7777, [email protected]