By Sohn Ji-young
Though it may come as a surprise, North Korea has been pursuing the development of artificial intelligence technologies since the 1990s through its series of state-run tech software research agencies.
Once recognized as a relative leader in AI computing, North Korea’s AI development is expected to hit hurdles due to strained resources, suggests a new report released Tuesday by KDB Research.
The economic think tank under the state-run Korea Development Bank said that North Korea’s AI development will remain limited as the country finds it increasingly difficult to invest in the high-tier computing hardware needed to train and improve AI systems. “Modern AI technology evolves by collecting and feeding large amounts of data to a high-power computing system. This requires enormous hardware and software investment,” said the report’s author Kim Min-kwan from KDB Research’s unification business unit.
“However, North Korea’s AI development is expected to hit a wall, due to its strained financial resources, economic situation and international sanctions including the Wassenaar Agreement, which prohibits weapons export to countries associated with terrorism,” Kim said.
North Korea has been developing AI technologies from the 90s via the state-run software research institute Korea Computer Center, the report noted. The country has three other research centers each dedicated to AI development, manufacturing automation as well as the development of digital security and biometric authentication software, it said.
A hallmark of North Korea’s AI development program is Eunbyul, its self-developed AI designed for the ancient Chinese game of Go.
Before the emergence of Google DeepMind’s famed AlphaGo, Eunbyul, developed by the Korea Computer Center in 1997 had been the reigning champion of international computerized Go competitions. It won the championship six times -- in 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20171017000721
