South Korean telecom giant LG Uplus has entered the B2B generative AI market and officially launched its independently developed generative artificial intelligence model ixi-GEN. The move puts LG Uplus into direct competition with KT Corp. and SK Telecom Co. for market leadership. As a small large language model (sLLM), ixi-GEN is trained based on the ultra-large-scale multi-modal AI Exaone developed by LG AI Research, the artificial intelligence laboratory of LG Group, and is optimized using LG Uplus's own communication and platform data. Its advantage is that it can be quickly fine-tuned to suit specific industry needs, and has higher security and reduced copyright risks due to its local deployment characteristics.
LG Uplus stated that ixi-GEN is different from general-purpose LLM in that it is more lightweight and focuses on specific industry applications. Within this year, ixi-GEN will be used in eight services of LG Uplus, including chat agent and mobile store consulting services, before officially entering the B2B market. In addition, LG Uplus also simultaneously launched the AI development platform ixi Solution to lower the threshold for using AI technology.
Unlike general-purpose LLMs such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, sLLM is smaller and more focused on specific industries or businesses. As a lighter LLM, ixi-GEN can be fine-tuned relatively quickly to better perform specific tasks or behaviors for specific industry uses. It is highly secure as it can be installed on a local server rather than in the cloud.
It's also unlikely to face copyright infringement lawsuits because it was trained on clean data provided by Exaone, according to the company. LG Uplus will apply ixi-GEN to eight of its services within this year, including chat agent and mobile store advisory services, and then offer them to the B2B market. Its generative AI is a telecommunications-specific AI model that can be quickly applied to telecommunications services.
In addition to generative AI tools, the company also launched an AI development platform called ixi Solution to enable ordinary people to use AI in the real world.
Highlights:
- LG Uplus joins the B2B generative AI market competition and launches a small large language model (sLLM) called ixi-GEN.
- ixi-GEN is trained based on communication and platform data and can be fine-tuned faster to perform tasks and behaviors for specific industry purposes.
- LG Uplus will apply ixi-GEN to eight of its services this year and then offer them to the B2B market.
LG Uplus' ixi-GEN is expected to occupy a niche in the B2B market due to its lightweight, high security, and focus on the telecommunications industry. Its subsequent development and market performance deserve attention. The launch of the ixi Solution platform has also further lowered the application threshold of AI technology, providing convenience for more enterprises and individuals.