Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Unist) announced the AI Smart Campus project, adding that the appointment of Go grandmaster Lee Se-dol as a professor was part of its commitment to AI education and research.

Unist President Park Chong-rae held a press conference on Friday to announce it will be creating a more AI-focused campus starting this year, referring it as the AI Smart Campus project. Professor Lee Se-dol, a Go grandmaster known for winning a match against AlphaGo and appointed as the university's professor in February, was also present to explain how the university will strengthen AI education.


“Unist has been questioning traditional methods of education and research in the rapidly changing era of AI,” said President Park. “In our journey to find answers to our questions, we appointed Professor Lee Se-dol as a professor at our university.”

“Professor Lee is known for leading social discourse about the relationship between humans and AI, and we expect him to contribute to AI education and research by sharing his insights and experience.”

The AI Smart Campus project will begin this year, although Unist has not yet specified when the project will be completed as it is currently working on developing more concrete plans.

Through the project, the university will create more courses that teach about AI and those that integrate AI with other disciplines. Unist also plans to allow all of its students to have access to a generative AI service they can use for learning and research.

Integrating AI into courses and research projects at Unist is one area that Professor Lee Se-dol will participate in.

“It's fascinating to see how scientific analysis of Go, that uses AI, is actively taking place at Unist,” said Professor Lee. “I wish to offer not just technical knowledge to students, but also hope to offer insights into how AI and creative human thinking can exist in harmony.”

Starting his term at Unist this semester, the revered Go player is teaching the course named Designing a Board Game for Scientists with Professor Lee Se-dol, held every Friday for six hours.

Students design their own board games through the course, learning logical thinking and developing game frameworks. Learning Go from Professor Lee himself is another perk of the course.

“As students create their own board game, they will be able to develop logical thinking, teamwork and problem solving skills,” said Professor Lee. “I want to help students make their ideas come to life as an actual board game.”

Also part of the AI Smart Campus plan, Unist will invest more into AI infrastructure, especially at the Super Computing Center and Artificial Intelligence Graduate School, and build more AI labs on campus.

On the administrative side, AI will be used to automate simple tasks for staff members and an AI chat bot will be created to help answer student questions.

The project also includes the launch of an AI+X program for companies, designed to help them integrate AI into their operations.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]