Korean Manufacturing Is the Battleground of the Physical AI Era

At a press briefing in Seoul on the 12th, global AI experts singled out Korea's manufacturing competitiveness as a key asset for the next-generation AI market. The analysis is that manufacturing capabilities could become a competitive advantage in the era of physical AI — artificial intelligence that works in the real world, such as robots and machinery. The briefing, held under the theme of 'Industrial AI Global Cooperation' at the Westin Josun Seoul in Jung-gu, Seoul, was attended by Yann LeCun, founder and chairman of AMI Labs, among others. The event was co-hosted by the U.S. industrial AI company Aitomatic and the organizing committee of the International Industrial AI Conference (IIAC) 2026.

LeCun, one of the so-called 'Big Three Gods of AI,' diagnosed that LLM-centric development alone has limits in realizing industrial AI. "Neural networks are excellent at transmitting existing human knowledge through text, but they do not yet understand the physical world well enough to control it," he said. While AI can prove mathematical theorems, robots still cannot do what a 10-year-old child can. Noting that there is no fully autonomous vehicle despite the collection of billions of hours of human driving data, he pointed out that "imitation learning alone is not enough."

The briefing also discussed ways to participate in global cooperation without letting data leave the country. Anthony Annunziata, co-chair of the AI Alliance, introduced 'Project Tapestry,' in which participating organizations retain control over their data and technology while jointly building a common foundation model. Asked whether Korea's independent development and global joint development could coexist, he answered, "100 percent possible."

In a congratulatory address, Ha Jeong-woo, vice chair of the National AI Strategy Committee, said, "The AI competition will not stop at who builds the better foundation model; what matters is connecting it to industrial sites to create real innovation." LeCun cited the Global AI Frontier Lab, jointly established by the Korean government and New York University, as an example of cooperation, while praising Korea's science and technology talent and educational infrastructure.