LG AI Research’s newly developed artificial intelligence (AI) model, K-EXAONE, created for the national AI foundation model project, has demonstrated strong competitiveness in both domestic and international AI arenas. The company shared that K-EXAONE topped 10 out of 13 benchmark tests in the first-round evaluation of the government-backed AI foundation model initiative, scheduled to conclude this month. The model earned an average score of 72 points, delivering the strongest overall performance among models developed by five consortia participating in the project. K-EXAONE scored 32 points on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, ranking first in Korea and seventh worldwide among open-weight models, according to the global AI analysis platform. The Korean model was also the only non-Chinese or U.S. entrant in the top 10, which was dominated by six Chinese and three U.S. models. “We planned the model’s development under realistic timelines and infrastructure constraints, using only about half of our available training data to build K-EXAONE,” said Lee Jin-sik, leader of LG