Shinjin Seo
Overview
Shinjin Seo (born 1982) is a South Korean computer scientist, artificial intelligence (AI) researcher, and entrepreneur. He graduated from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Seoul National University and earned a Ph.D. in AI from Stanford University in the United States. Subsequently, he led AI research at major domestic and international IT companies, achieving innovative results in deep learning and natural language processing. Currently, he serves as the founder and CEO of the AI startup 'DeepMind Korea,' working to commercialize AI technology and promote its social diffusion.
Main Content
Early Life and Education
Shinjin Seo was born in Seoul and showed exceptional talent in mathematics and science from an early age. After graduating from Seoul Science High School, he entered the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Seoul National University, where he earned a bachelor's degree. During his undergraduate years, he developed a deep interest in AI research, particularly excelling in machine learning and neural networks. He then pursued graduate studies at Stanford University, earning a Ph.D. in deep learning under the supervision of Professor Andrew Ng. His doctoral dissertation, on 'Efficient Training Methods for Large-Scale Language Models,' attracted academic attention.
Research and Career
After obtaining his Ph.D., Shinjin Seo joined Google Research as a researcher in the Natural Language Processing (NLP) team. During this period, he contributed to improving the Transformer model and participated in follow-up research on BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), significantly enhancing the performance of AI language models. Notably, he was a co-developer of the 'ALBERT' (A Lite BERT) model, playing a key role in model lightweighting and efficiency improvement. In 2019, he returned to Korea and joined Naver's AI research lab 'Naver Clova' as its inaugural director. At Naver, he led the development of the Korean-specific AI model 'HyperCLOVA,' which achieved world-class performance in Korean natural language processing.
Entrepreneurship and Business Activities
In 2022, Shinjin Seo left Naver to found the AI startup 'DeepMind Korea.' The company develops enterprise solutions based on generative AI and large language models (LLMs), integrating AI technology into various industries such as finance, healthcare, and education. In particular, the conversational AI platform 'DeepChat' is widely used in customer service, counseling, and education, achieving significant success in the domestic AI market. Additionally, he actively advocates for AI ethics and responsible AI use, leading initiatives such as the establishment of an 'AI Ethics Charter' and engaging in social activities.
Academic and Social Contributions
Shinjin Seo has published over 100 papers in international journals and conferences, with more than 50,000 citations. He serves on the program committees of major AI conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, and ACL, and is dedicated to nurturing future talent. He also contributes to AI talent development as an adjunct professor at KAIST and Seoul National University. In 2023, he received the Minister of Science and ICT Award at the 'Korea AI Awards,' and in 2024, he was named a 'Young Global Leader' by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Latest Trends
From 2024 to 2025, Shinjin Seo has been focusing on developing 'On-Device AI' technology through DeepMind Korea. This technology runs AI models directly on smartphones or IoT devices without relying on the cloud, offering strengths in privacy protection and real-time processing. He also advocates for 'AI democratization,' releasing the open-source model 'Korean-LLM' to enable small and medium-sized enterprises and startups to adopt AI technology at low cost. This model is specialized for Korean and is free for commercial use, contributing to the expansion of the domestic AI ecosystem. In early 2025, he was appointed as an advisory committee member for the government's 'AI National Strategy,' participating in policy proposals to strengthen Korea's AI competitiveness.
Related Topics
- [[Artificial Intelligence]]
- [[Deep Learning]]
- [[Natural Language Processing]]
- [[Startup]]
- [[AI Ethics]]