[Digital Today reporter Jin-ho Lee] KT will run pilot demonstrations after identifying candidate projects to commercialise physical AI across 6 industries including manufacturing, defence and logistics.

KT said on Oct. 14 it introduced sector-specific tasks and its commercialisation roadmap identified through the Physical AI Alliance's "Vertical Industry Bridge" at "Physical AI Tech Week" held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul on Oct. 13.

Hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and organised by the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) and the Physical AI Alliance, the event was held under the theme "a brain that acts" to share changes in physical AI technology and directions for industrial adoption.

Park Sang-won (박상원), head of KT's AI transformation (AX) business division, attended as the head of the Vertical Industry Bridge division. He presented results from identifying sector-specific tasks and discussed ways to link on-site demonstrations with commercialisation.

Since launching in June, the Vertical Industry Bridge division has identified 26 candidate projects for commercialisation across 6 industry groups: manufacturing; defence and defence industries; maritime and shipbuilding; autonomous driving and logistics; medical and wellness; and public and everyday services. Participating companies including KT will select 4 tasks by year-end and link them to the National Growth Fund and the government's physical AI demonstration project. Under a "4D 추진 계획" spanning discovery, design, demonstration and diffusion, the group plans to secure cases validated in industrial settings and expand them to other industries.

KT also unveiled edge AI technology at its exhibition booth that can be applied at industrial sites. Edge AI reduces communications delays by processing on-site data nearby. It supports fast and stable control by connecting AI decisions to the operation of robots and equipment.

KT is also working with KAIST and Daim Research to pursue commercialisation of an unmanned "dark factory" platform. The three organisations plan to develop and pilot manufacturing process autonomy technologies centred on the Ministry of Science and ICT's "2026 project to build an R&D ecosystem for a collaborative-intelligence physical AI-based software platform".

Park said, "Based on our capabilities in identifying sector-specific tasks through the Vertical Industry Bridge and our AX capabilities including AI agents, edge AI and networks, KT will create physical AI success cases validated at sites and expand them across various industries."