KT Corp., South Korea’s second-largest telecom company, has unveiled an upgraded version of its Korean large language model (LLM), Mi:dm 2.0. Optimized specifically for the Korean language and culture, Mi:dm 2.0 reflects KT’s philosophy of developing AI that aligns with local values, social norms, and user needs.
During an online briefing on Thursday, KT’s Chief AI Officer Shin Dong-hoon said the model will be released as open source on Hugging Face, a global platform for sharing AI tools. This move allows developers and businesses to use Mi:dm 2.0 commercially without restrictions.
KT is positioning Mi:dm 2.0 at the center of its bid to join South Korea’s national sovereign AI initiative. The government is currently seeking local AI consortia to develop foundational models under the “K-AI” label, with applications open until July 21. If selected, KT would be able to promote both its model and company as part of the official K-AI ecosystem.
Mi:dm 2.0 comes in two variants — the Base model with 11.5 billion parameters and a lighter Mini version with 2.3 billion parameters. Both versions support Korean and English, but are especially tuned to Korean language nuances, cultural references, and social context. The Base model is designed for general-purpose tasks such as document-based Q&A, while the Mini model benefits from knowledge distilled from the larger version.
KT emphasized that Mi:dm 2.0 has outperformed both domestic and global LLMs in Korean-language benchmarks. In evaluations like Ko-Sovereign, HAERAE, and KMMLU — metrics focused on Korea-related knowledge and linguistic understanding — Mi:dm 2.0 demonstrated strong results, highlighting its advanced comprehension and generation capabilities in Korean-specific domains.
The company also collaborated with domestic AI chipmaker Rebellions to ensure the model runs efficiently on locally produced processors, supporting the broader goal of technological self-reliance. KT noted that this partnership has helped improve inference performance while reducing hardware dependency on foreign vendors.
In a parallel effort, KT is working with Microsoft to co-develop a Korean-customized version of GPT-4. While Mi:dm 2.0 is the product of KT’s in-house development, the company plans to enhance capabilities by collaborating with Microsoft to fine-tune ChatGPT using Korean cultural data. This two-track strategy allows KT to maintain its technological independence while benefiting from global partnerships.
KT first introduced its proprietary LLM in 2022 and integrated earlier versions into services like AI-powered customer centers and IPTV. With Mi:dm 2.0, KT becomes the first Korean firm to open-source a commercial-grade LLM with over 11 billion parameters. By making the model freely available on Hugging Face, KT aims to promote Korean AI values while accelerating adoption across public and private sectors.
KT executives emphasized that Mi:dm 2.0 reflects the company’s deeper mission to embed Korean identity into every aspect of its AI development. “Our aim is to weave the Korean spirit throughout our entire AI model lineup,” said Oh Seung-phil, Chief Technology Officer. This philosophy underpins KT’s broader vision of developing AI that resonates with local culture and values while remaining competitive globally.
