KT partners with Jasmine Group to create Thai Language Model Service

Mobile carrier KT will partner with Thai firm Jasmine Group to create a large language model (LLM) service based on the Thai language. The companies aim to target the Southeast Asian market and comply with AI-related regulations in the region.

KT CEO Kim Young-shub, fourth from right, and Jasmine Group chief Pete Bodharamik, fourth from left, pose for a photo after holding a strategic partnership meeting for the generative AI business at the KT headquarters in central Seoul on Oct. 19, 2023. [YONHAP]

Mobile carrier KT will team up with Jasmine Group, a Thai communication technology firm, in a bid to create a large language model (LLM) service based on the Thai language.

Heads of the two companies agreed on Thursday to jointly create a Thai language-based LLM model and devise a marketing strategy for the Southeast Asian market and a response to AI-related regulations in the region, according to KT officials.

The discussion held at KT's headquarters in central Seoul came after KT and Jasmine Technology Solution, Jasmine Group's ICT systems arm, signed a memorandum of understanding for the project last month.

KT said it will share technologies used for creating Mi:dm, the company's hyperscale AI service to be released later this month, to develop the LLM model for Thailand, while Jasmine Group will analyze the regional market and build a graphics processing unit (GPU) farm to power the LLM.

The two companies plan to construct the GPU farm in the first half of next year and start creating the Thai LLM in the second half.

The generative AI market in Southeast Asia is expected to reach $1.41 billion in 2023 and sharply grow to $7.65 billion by 2030, according to global research firm Statista.

“We expect to contribute to strengthening Thailand's competitiveness in the AI industry through cooperation with Jasmine Group, and furthermore, succeed in breaking ground in the Southeast Asian AI market,” KT CEO Kim Young-shub, said.

BY JIN MIN-JI, YONHAP [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]