Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) President Shin Sung-chul speaks during a recent interview with The Korea Times at his office in Daejeon. / Courtesy of KAIST



Institute to build ‘English-only zone'



By Yoon Sung-won



DAEJEON ― Beginning next year, new students of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) cannot graduate from the ivory tower if they don't complete the artificial intelligence (AI) course.



"I will strengthen educations of basic engineering courses. And that includes AI. Those who enter KAIST next year should study at least one AI course. Otherwise, they would not be able to get our diploma," KAIST President Shin Sung-chul said in a recent interview.



"Current students would not be subject to the new rule. But freshmen of next year will have to follow the new rule without exceptions."



Shin, who took charge of the high-tech university this March, said that the era of strong AI will not arrive for a foreseeable future.



Otherwise called artificial general intelligence or full AI, strong AI refers to machines capable of experiencing consciousness. Critics of strong AI come up with worries that it would end up ruling human beings.



In contrast, proponents of weak or narrow AI believe that machines will not be able to perform the full range of human cognitive abilities. Weak AI acts upon the rules imposed by human and is strictly bounded by them.



Weak AI seems to think as it plays chess, drives cars and recognizes speech. But in fact, it is not conscious in any sense of the word.



"I don't think that strong AI will dominate the world. If so, it would take place in a very distant future," Shin said.

"Humans cannot beat machines in memory, data processing and power. But humans have creativity, wisdom, insight and intuition, which machines can hardly mimic. AI will help people enrich their lives."



Asked about his top priority as head of the country's No. 1 science- and technology-focused university, Shin stressed accelerated development of the KAIST brand in the global scene.



"Since its foundation in the early 1970s, KAIST has grown to become a world-class university. For the next half a century, we will strive to become a world-leading university," he said.



"We will create various values in the global level in such areas as academia, technology and economy."



Toward that end, Shin picked five major pillars to innovate ― education, research, business based on research, globalization and future strategy.



In particular, Shin vowed to make KAIST a genuine bilingual campus by increasing the proportion of foreign faculty and students. In addition, he is mulling over setting up an English-only zone where people are not supposed to speak Korean.



"Without globalization, we cannot join the rank of the world-leading universities. To attract talents from foreign countries, they should not feel any problems in communications in our university," he said.



"Lectures would be delivered in English. Plus, we will establish English-only zones at dormitories. I will also make greater efforts for the globalization of KAIST."