SK Telecom and Seoul National University Launch Joint AI Program Taught by Current Developers

SK Telecom announced on August 24 that it is launching the 'SKT-Seoul National University AI Joint Program' for graduate students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a 15-week course starting September 1. The curriculum covers AI apps and services, AI modeling, and AI infrastructure. The first lecture will be given by CEO Jung Jae-heon to about 300 students, followed by current executives and PhD-level researchers including the head of AI CIC. The AI education partnership marks its 10th year in 2026.

This event brings industry AI R&D and commercialization experience directly into university curricula, potentially changing AI talent development models and contributing to South Korea's AI ecosystem. For AI education product providers, deep corporate involvement in course design may become a trend, affecting demand for industry-academia collaboration products. However, no public evaluation data on course effectiveness is available yet. Graduate students at Seoul National University will gain direct exposure to development cases of AI services operated by the telecom company, LLM training and optimization processes, and AI infrastructure build-out know-how. SK Telecom may build long-term competitive advantage in AI talent competition through early identification and development.