2023/3/17

• Systematic education from theory to practice through upstage 'AI Stages' practical project

• Over 70% of non-major graduates... About 50% of total recruitment linkage achieved within 3 years of launch

• Preference is high in the corporate field due to high practical skills recognized by field experts

(Upstage = 2023/3/17) One of the two graduates of 'boostcamp (hereinafter referred to as Boost Camp) AI Tech', which is run by Connect Foundation, a non-profit software education foundation under Naver, and participated as a partner by Upstage, a leading AI company in Korea, is AI. Turned out to be an engineer.

Upstage (CEO Seong-Hoon Kim, www.upstage.ai) is operated by Naver Connect Foundation, and more than half of the graduates from Boost Camp AI Tech, which Upstage participates as a partner in, have succeeded in getting a job as AI engineers, and have high practical skills. He said he is recognized as an expert in the field.

Boost Camp AI Tech is an AI talent training program that provides practical training for AI development using actual datasets from basic knowledge in the field of artificial intelligence. Upstage CEO Kim Seong-hoon, Upstage CTO Lee Hwal-seok (CTO), who served as Naver Clova Visual AI lead, and Upstage CSO Park Eun-jung, former Papago model team leader, are among the most prestigious researchers in the field of AI. 82 faculty members, including former and current engineers, present a systematic curriculum.

As the demand for AI talent is rapidly increasing, various educational programs are being mass-produced, but among those who dream of becoming AI engineers, BoostCamp AI Tech's robust curriculum is riding word of mouth. As proof of this, in the case of the recruitment period last year, the number of applicants increased by more than 165% compared to the launch in 2021, and the entry threshold was raised to the extent that the 5th period, which was recruited last January, showed a fierce competition rate of more than 6:1.

Boost Camp's AI Tech education curriculum is being upgraded every quarter through Upstage consultation, and is characterized by a practical-oriented curriculum using the 'AI Stages' platform developed by Upstage. AI Stages is Upstage's AI/ML (Machine Learning) competition platform, where you can practice all stages, from designing and building various AI models using actual corporate data to performance evaluation. It avoids rigid theory lessons, solves problems directly, and develops a sense of practice, so the response rate is high.

THE ENTIRE TRAINING IS CONDUCTED IN TEAMS, AND THROUGH VARIOUS COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS, STUDENTS PRACTICE ALL STAGES FROM AI MODEL DESIGN TO DEPLOYMENT, AND LEARN PRACTICAL SKILLS AS AN AI ENGINEER. TOP AI EXPERTS IN KOREA, INCLUDING UPSTAGE, GIVE LECTURES, AND MENTORS HELP GROW BY PROVIDING INSIGHTS ON CORE CONTENT. IN ADDITION, TO SUPPORT A SMOOTH LEARNING EXPERIENCE, NAVER CLOUD PROVIDES A HIGH-PERFORMANCE GPU SERVER (V100). 98% OF THE 4TH CLASS STUDENTS WHO RECENTLY COMPLETED THE TRAINING RESPONDED THAT THEY WERE SATISFIED WITH THE TRAINING OPERATION, AND 99% RESPONDED THAT THEY WERE WILLING TO RECOMMEND IT TO THEIR NEIGHBORS, AND THE SATISFACTION LEVEL IS RENEWED EVERY YEAR.

The true nature of the curriculum focused on practical experience is revealed in the employment index. More than 75% of the trainees of the 4th class of AI Tech, the recently completed boost camp, are from non-major backgrounds. They transform into experts who can be put into the field immediately through AI intensive training that lasts for about five months. In fact, hundreds of graduates, nearly half of them, are immediately employed as AI engineers and are running at the forefront of companies.

In addition, many of them are prominently active in major domestic IT companies such as Upstage and Naver. Company officials said, “It is very impressive that you not only have solid ML basic knowledge, but also have collaborative experience while working on a project.” “I think my skills have been verified just by being a Boost Camp AI Tech graduate, and I feel like I have worked in the field.” The reviews were all positive, saying, “I think I learned well.”

Boost Camp AI Tech graduates ▲ 1st to 3rd place in NAVER CLOVA AI Rush 2022 (NAVER CLOVA AI Rush 2022) ▲ Grand Prize and Encouragement Prize in the 2nd K-Digital Training Hackathon ▲ Hyundai Motor R&D AI Contest Encouragement Prize, etc. They are doing well in competitions.

“Boost Camp AI Tech is proud to be an all-in-one AI education program that supports not only a systematic curriculum but also a strong community among graduates,” said Junhee Kim, Boost Camp AI Tech Leader of Naver Connect Foundation. We will operate the boost camp more stably so that it can be fostered.”

Seonghun Kim, CEO of Upstage, said, “There are various AI training programs, but BoostCamp AI Tech is the only one that leads to high-quality employment through practical intensive training using real data.” As an AI engineer, we will take the lead in building an AI talent ecosystem by passing on the best know-how in the industry and academia to those who dream of becoming AI engineers.”

On the other hand, Upstage provides customers with AI technologies such as OCR technology that can extract and use desired information from images, recommendation technology that considers customer information and product and service characteristics, and natural language processing search technology that enables semantic-based search. We are helping customers innovate AI by launching the 'Upstage AI Pack', a no-code-low-code solution that helps users customize their use. With the Upstage AI Pack, you can easily utilize data processing, AI modeling, and indicator management, as well as conveniently use the latest AI technology by supporting continuous updates.

In addition, Upstage recently launched AskUp, which adds Upstage's OCR technology and chat GPT to the national mobile messenger KakaoTalk, gathering 100,000 channel friends within a week, creating a sensation. AskUp is 'Eyeless ChatGPT', which combines Upstage's OCR technology based on the artificial intelligence chatbot 'ChatGPT'. When a user takes a picture of a document or sends it, it can understand the text in the image and respond.

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