South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday released detailed scores from the second-phase evaluation of its Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project.
The detailed results were released at the request of Motif Technologies, which was eliminated in the second phase, with the consent of the other shortlisted teams.
SK Telecom ranked first with 70.6 points overall in the second-phase evaluation, followed by Upstage with 69.9 points, LG AI Research Institute with 69 points and Motif Technologies with 65.8 points.
The 100-point evaluation consisted of benchmark assessments worth 40 points — 25 points from the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index and 15 points from the National Information Society Agency benchmark — along with an expert evaluation worth 35 points and a user evaluation worth 25 points, including 15 points from professional users and 10 points from the public.
In the AAII evaluation, which uses global benchmarks, Motif Technologies ranked first with 11.9 points, followed by Upstage with 9.4 points, SK Telecom at 8.8 points and LG AI Research Institute pulling in 7.8 points.
In the NIA benchmark, which covers seven areas including Korean-language capabilities and reliability, SK Telecom and Upstage ranked at the top with 13.4 and 13.3 points, respectively. LG AI Research Institute scored 12.8 points, while Motif Technologies scored 12.7 points.
In the expert evaluation, which involved 10 external experts from industry, academia and research institutions, LG AI Research Institute received the highest score of 29.5 points, followed by SK Telecom with 29.3 points, Upstage with 29.1 points and Motif Technologies with 27.1 points.
In the professional user evaluation, which measured real-world usability and involved 49 AI startup executives, SK Telecom ranked first with 11.6 points. In the public evaluation, which involved 185 members of the public, LG AI Research Institute topped the category with 7.6 points.
The ministry said the project was aimed not simply at ranking teams or selecting those for elimination, but at promoting qualitative growth and the expansion of South Korea’s AI ecosystem. It said development targets are revised every six months as “moving targets” to reflect the rapid evolution of AI technology, while the evaluation criteria and methodology were finalized through prior consultation with shortlisted teams.
Motif Technologies had previously filed an objection with the ministry over the outcome of the second phase.
The ministry said it would review Motif Technologies’ objection in accordance with established procedures and make a final decision within 15 days.
ch0221@heraldcorp.com