Korean Start-ups Awakened to New Frontiers in Medical AI Field

These days, Google is making headlines as its artificial intelligence (AI) AlphaGo beated top pro Go player Lee Se-dol 2:0 in a highly publicized five-game Go series. The internet search giant is expanding its AI business by taking over four robotics companies including DeepMind which designed AlphaGo. But in Korea, AI is an underdeveloped and poorly invested sector. “Korean companies have not made much progress in AI research. They still have a long way to go in terms of AI commercialization,” said Jin Jeong-yeol, director of the Kohyoung Technology. “Even though some small and medium-sized Korean companies apply for the patents of robotics technology, they are poor at connecting their technology to other business such as drones and self-driving cars and failing to effectively cope with market changes,” said an official of the Robotics and Automation Evaluation Department at the Office of Patent Administration of Korea.

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