Baek Gyeong-hun (배경훈), South Korea's vice premier and minister of science and ICT, delivered a keynote address at the "KAIST Artificial Intelligence (AI) College Vision Declaration Ceremony" held at KAIST's Academic and Cultural Complex on Sunday. He explored directions for innovation in AI talent education.

KAIST's AI College, which launched its undergraduate programme from this spring semester, aims to nurture people who expand knowledge with AI and design the future based on original questions. The event brought together KAIST faculty and staff and private-sector experts to listen to education demand in the AI era and discuss development directions.

In the keynote titled "Korea's Future: People Who Change AI", Baek stressed flexibility, openness and coexistence as elements of education innovation to foster core AI talent. Yoon Guk-jin (윤국진), dean of KAIST's AI College, also emphasised that AI is a key foundation for new knowledge production and future design through a presentation on the college's vision and innovation direction.

A ceremony was also held to appoint an advisory group for the AI College to draw up leading AI education innovation. A special forum on AI innovation, planned and joined by students, also took place.

KAIST's AI College, established in December last year, has appointed 21 full-time faculty members. It is overhauling its operating system, including efforts to appoint 218 adjunct faculty members for cross-disciplinary convergence education without boundaries. A total of 187 people applied for admission to the graduate programme for the 2026 academic year, with selection starting from the end of March. Final successful candidates will be announced on the 25th.

Baek said, "At this time of a major transition as AI moves into an execution stage, investment in AI talent is most urgent." He added, "Through active communication with students, who are the consumers of education, we will build Korea's differentiated AI education system."