LG AI Research seeks to address industrial challenges with 'expert' AI models
LG AI Research co-head Lim Woo-hyung speaks during LG AI Talk Concert 2026 at LG Science Park in Gangseo District, Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of LG AI Research
Research head expresses doubts on Big Tech's call for AI development slowdown
LG AI Research, an artificial intelligence (AI) institute of LG Group, has unveiled “expert” AI models based on its EXAONE large language model, which are already delivering tangible results by addressing practical challenges encountered in real world industrial environments.
The models were unveiled during LG AI Talk Concert 2026, held by LG AI Research to introduce use cases of its expert AI models, each specialized in manufacturing, science and finance.
“Building a good AI model is important, but LG AI Research’s mission is to solve difficult problems that industries have struggled with for years,” LG AI Research co-head Lim Woo-hyung said during his keynote speech.
“There are already many general-purpose AI models in the world that generate excellent answers. But solving problems in industrial settings requires AI that can understand numerous variables, even the 1 percent of exceptional cases. AI can prove its value in industry only when it can demonstrate tangible results.”
LG AI Research officials demonstrate scalp and hair diagnosis during LG AI Talk Concert 2026 at LG Science Park in Gangseo District, Seoul, Monday. Newsis
As part of that approach, LG AI Research unveiled EXAONE Tabular and EXAONE Omni-Inspect.
Tabular specializes in understanding raw numerical data presented in tables. It analyzes relationships between numbers and predicts future values. Because it can make predictions with relatively small amounts of data, the model can adapt quickly to new manufacturing environments, cutting the time needed to respond to model changes by 85 percent.
Omni-Inspect is designed to identify defects in components by analyzing images captured by cameras. Even when new products or processes are introduced and the images change, the AI agent can continue operating without requiring retraining.
EXAONE Discovery is a model specializing in science. Working with LG Household & Health Care, LG AI Research used the model to discover ramsidil, a new substance that could help prevent hair loss, in just one day, as the model screened 420,000 candidate substances and identified the most suitable one. This reduced the discovery process that typically takes 22 months to a single day.
The institute also introduced EXAONE Business Intelligence for the financial sector and unveiled plans to build an AI-powered autonomous laboratory. Under the autonomous lab, a foundation model for materials development will predict the outcomes of new material synthesis, while robotic equipment conducts experiments. The AI will then learn from the results and design the next experiments, creating a continuous cycle.
LG AI Research co-head Lee Hong-lak, right, talks to Artificial Analysis co-founder Geroge Cameron during LG AI Talk Concert 2026 at LG Science Park in Gangseo District, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
During the conference, LG AI Research co-head Lee Hong-lak expressed his doubts over whether companies are heeding the call made by global big tech leaders. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Saturday urged AI companies to reduce the pace with which they improve their most advanced models, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk backing the call.
“I haven’t seen any evidence that companies are really slowing down the pace of development,” Lee said. “If anything, they have accelerated their computing and research and development efforts, and I don’t expect that to slow.” Lee said.
“When it comes to releases and deployment, however, I think they are becoming more cautious rather than publishing something every week, given concerns over model risks and cybersecurity attacks. I understand that they are being more careful in internal testing and review before release.”
Artificial Analysis co-founder Geroge Cameron speaks during LG AI Talk Concert 2026 at LG Science Park in Gangseo District, Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Nam Hyun-woo
During the conference, Artificial Analysis co-founder Geroge Cameron said that even in the age of AI agents, the performance of the underlying model remains the most important factor, but cost efficiency, speed and flexibility are also becoming increasingly important as companies move from experimenting with AI to using it at scale.
“Many companies would go bankrupt if they used Anthropic’s Claude Fable for everything,” he said, noting that the model costs $8.75 per task on Artificial Analysis’ intelligence index. “Many use cases don’t need to use the most expensive leading model in terms of intelligence achieved.”
He noted that companies are increasingly weighing not only intelligence, but also speed, cost and flexibility, with open-weight models also offering additional benefits for firms seeking to run or fine-tune models on their own infrastructure.
Cameron said Korean AI models, including LG AI Research’s EXAONE, still trail leading U.S. and Chinese models in overall intelligence, but that does not rule them out as competitive options when those trade-offs are considered.
He also stressed that Korean developers should continue pursuing stronger general-purpose models and not lose sight of the global race toward artificial general intelligence.