HonestAI Selected to Lead National Project for AGI Foundational Technology Development

Financial AI specialized company HonestAI has taken center stage in a significant national project set to redefine the future of artificial intelligence. It was ultimately selected as the lead institution for the ‘2025 Human-Oriented Next-Generation Challenge-Type AI Technology Development Project,’ organized by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP). The project aims to go beyond the current limitations of AI and secure core original technologies for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The HonestAI consortium will lead this bold challenge, receiving a total of 4.015 billion won in research and development budget until 2028. While existing AI has been limited to learning statistical patterns from data, HonestAI will focus on developing AGI core technologies capable of understanding and inferring the logical causal relationships hidden behind data. Specifically, through the 'Development of AGI Core Technology Based on Dynamic Causal Inference,' the ambition is to usher in an era where AI can make judgments based on logical principles, even in situations not present in past data, such as unpredictable economic crises or new types of financial fraud. This initiative is drawing significant attention because an industry enterprise, rather than the usual universities or national research institutes, will oversee core technology R&D. This reflects the expectation that the developed technology will be rapidly applied to the financial sector, bringing innovation. Shin Yoon-je, head of HonestAI's AI research institute, will lead the research, with Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Sungkyunkwan University participating as a consortium. Seoul National University is also scheduled to join from the second year. The core technologies secured through this research will be applied to HonestAI’s 'AI Model Factory' to provide innovative AI models for various financial services, including credit rating, marketing, and fraud/abnormal transaction detection (FDS). Furthermore, collaboration with KT will explore ways to integrate next-generation AI technologies into finance-specific AI platforms. Seo Sang-hoon, CEO of HonestAI, stated his vision: "This is a challenge that fundamentally changes how AI operates, going beyond merely competing to improve prediction accuracy. We will create a 'trustworthy AI partner' that users can rely on in any crisis situation."