LeCun, Korean Partners Discuss AI Research Cooperation

Yann LeCun took part in a seminar on industrial AI sovereignty and global co-development in Seoul on the 12th, where speakers discussed expanding AI research cooperation between Korea and international partners, according to zdnet.co.kr.

LeCun is co-director of the Global AI Frontier, a joint research institute established by the Korean government and New York University. At the seminar he presented the direction he argues next-generation AI should take.

That direction, he said, should move from language learning toward understanding the physical world through world models. He introduced the Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture (JEPA) as a technique for the approach, and said AMI Labs is developing an AI system that plans its own tasks based on the technology.

ASI Foundry chairman Jimmy Lee said Korea's high-quality manufacturing data should be combined with global AI technology. Automatic co-founder and CEO Christopher Nguyen discussed a "digital engineer" concept built on AI agents that draw on skilled workers' knowledge, and AI Alliance co-founder Anthony Annunziata explained the "Project Tapestry" global co-development plan.

The event was co-hosted by Automatic and the IIAC 2026 organizing committee, and organized by the AI Alliance and ASI Foundry.

LeCun's Earlier Assessment

In earlier remarks, LeCun noted that current AI has achieved results in coding and mathematics but lacks the ability to understand and control the physical environment. He also stated that Korea has many excellent talents and a strong foundation in science and technology higher education.