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

In a major AI project, LG AI Research took the lead, while Naver Cloud was left out. The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) shared the news on January 15, 2026. They said LG did well, but Naver Cloud didn't meet the rules for being "sovereign, " meaning they didn't build their AI from scratch. The ministry plans to pick three teams first: LG, Upstage, and SK Telecom. They will also look for one more team to join later. This is to keep the competition strong and help Korea become one of the top three countries in AI.Naver Cloud was eliminated because they used weights from an existing open model for their video and audio encoders. The rules say teams must train their models themselves. The ministry explained that using weights as-is, without updating them, doesn't count as building a sovereign AI model. The ministry also said they will make the rules clearer for future projects. They want to encourage using open-source tools but make sure teams do their own training. They also promised to support all teams fairly, giving them the same resources and time. The ministry didn't disclose the scores of the companies. They said the goal is to help all teams improve and catch up to global AI leaders. They believe Korea's AI models are getting better and will soon be a source of national pride.