President Lee Jae Myung (right) on April 27 takes a photo with Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google affiliate Google DeepMind, at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul. (Cheong Wa Dae)

By Charles Audouin

Google this year will open an AI (Artificial Intelligence) Campus in Seoul, Cheong Wa Dae announced on April 27.

This will be the first such facility set up outside of the U.K.

President Lee Jae Myung on the same day hosted talks with Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, a London-based Google subsidiary, at Cheong Wa Dae and agreed to expand AI cooperation between Google, Korean researchers and academics.

"Google has decided to open a Google AI Campus in Seoul within this year to expand cooperation with researchers and startups," Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement. "CEO Hassabis has decided to actively consider sending a Google research team to Korea."

About 10 Google researchers will be stationed in Korea to lead technical cooperation.

Google will raise cooperation with Korea focused on the Seoul-led K-Moonshot Project, a research and development initiative using AI to resolve issues in fields like biotechnology, climate and energy.

The Ministry of Science and ICT also signed a memorandum of understanding with Google DeepMind on joint AI research and human resource development and use.

President Lee also mentioned basic income, a key government policy, saying, "Isn't the AI era exactly when basic income is needed?"

Hassabis agreed, citing the need for incorporation of capitalist market principles while the government provides basic services such as housing and education.

The CEO received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024 for jointly developing AlphaFold, an AI model that predicts protein structures.

caudouin@korea.kr