While pursuing his doctorate in mathematics at the University of Oxford, Junghwan Lim watched many peers head deeper into academia or pivot toward lucrative careers in finance. But an encounter with DeepMind, later acquired by Google, inspired a more unconventional path: using his expertise in anabelian geometry, a formidable study spanning algebra, geometry and topology, to develop technology.
??????He returned home to Seoul and did stints as a data scientist at a gaming company and Samsung Research. But rather than settling into a comfortable career at a conglomerate, he soon ventured into the world of startups. Today, the 34-year-old is applying his polymathic background at Motif Technologies, a startup that¡¯s emerged as a contender in the race to build South Korea¡¯s national AI infrastructure.
Late last week, the government announced that it selected Motif as a competitor in a state-backed competition to create sovereign AI models. Nicknamed ¡°AI Squid Game¡± after Netflix¡¯s dystopian survival show, the multi-stage contest ¡ª overseen by the Ministry of Science and ICT ¡ª kicked off in January and is designed to have a panel of judges pick two of the best homegrown AI models.
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