Google to build AI campus in South Korea, presidential office says

South Korea and Google have agreed to build an artificial-intelligence campus in Seoul to develop cooperation between the tech firm and local engineers and startups, Kim Yong-beom, a presidential policy adviser, said on Monday.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with Google DeepMind chief executive officer Demis Hassabis in Seoul ‌on Monday, with ⁠the ⁠Science Ministry and the company signing a memorandum of understanding on the campus, Kim said.

The following are some details on the meetings and planned campus.


South Korea requested ​Google send at least 10 engineers to the AI campus from Google's headquarters in the United States and Hassabis said he would consider ​that, Kim said.

The Google AI campus will ⁠be the ‌first of its kind in the world for the US company, the presidential adviser said.

President Lee and Hassabis ⁠shared their thoughts about the outlook for AI and ​its impact on people, Kim said.

Lee raised the ​need for the introduction of a base wage in case of job losses caused by AI at the meeting.

Hassabis said he hoped with this partnership "to help with training up the next generation in these amazing technologies through internships at our AI hub and other training ‌programmes."

DeepMind would like to deepen partnerships with Korean companies from Samsung and SK Hynix to Hyundai's Boston Dynamics and LG and "instigate new joint projects" ⁠with them, Hassabis said.

He described South Korea as a "great industrial base" in all of the key AI areas, from chips to robotics.

The ​historic match between DeepMind's AlphaGo program and Go player Lee Sedol in Korea a decade ago signaled the beginning of the modern AI era and inspired many advances in AI, including its work in science like the Alphafold system for protein folding, Hassabis said.