Joo Jae-gak (from left), head of the AI Innovation Division at Korea Electric Power Corp., and Kim Kyung-hoon, country head of OpenAI Korea, pose for a photo after signing a memorandum of understanding for “AI transformation cooperation in the energy industry” at Seoul National University on the 26th. Photo courtesy of KEPCO
Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and global artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI have agreed to join forces for the AI transformation of the energy industry.
KEPCO signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with OpenAI at Seoul National University on Saturday, the company said Monday. Under the agreement, the two sides will jointly pursue policy and technology exchanges to promote the joint use and adoption of AI technology in the energy sector, as well as the innovation of power services and the discovery of new business models using generative AI.
The agreement was pursued to accelerate the AI transformation of the energy industry by strategically combining KEPCO’s power grid operation technology and infrastructure with OpenAI’s AI technology. It marks the first time a domestic energy state-run enterprise has directly joined hands with OpenAI.
Based on the agreement, KEPCO plans to explore cooperation measures with OpenAI in stages. It first plans to drive AI innovation across all sectors, including power supply and infrastructure management, by combining the vast power data it holds with the latest AI technology.
“As an institution with world-class power infrastructure operation capabilities and vast data, we will explore through this agreement the potential for innovation that AI can create in the energy sector,” KEPCO President Kim Dong-cheol said. “We will also continue to seek ways to cooperate with related companies to develop the domestic energy AI ecosystem.”