{
  "id": 1666876,
  "title": "LG AI Research, SK Telecom, Upstage survive next cut in national AI model project",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/lg-ai-research-sk-telecom-upstage-survive-next-cut-in-national-ai-1666876",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-18T08:02:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/business/tech-science/20260818/lg-ai-research-sk-telecom-upstage-survive-next-cut-in-national-ai-model-project"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The Korean government has narrowed down its national AI model project to three teams, eliminating Motif Technologies despite its strong performance. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that LG AI Research, SK Telecom, and Upstage will advance to the next phase of the project, which aims to develop a domestic AI foundation model rivaling those of the United States and China. The selection process involved evaluating models based on benchmark performance, expert reviews, and user experience. LG AI Research's K-EXAONE 2.0, SK Telecom's A.X K2, and Upstage's Solar Open2 were chosen to continue developing their models for the next stage of the project.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Yonhap News",
        "title": "KT, SK Telecom, Upstage advance to next stage in gov't-led AI project",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/kt-sk-telecom-upstage-advance-to-next-stage-in-govt-led-ai-project",
        "published": "2026-08-18T02:34:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "LG AI Research, SK Telecom, Upstage survive next cut in national AI model project",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/lg-ai-research-sk-telecom-upstage-survive-next-cut-in-national-ai",
        "published": "2026-08-18T07:52:02.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}