Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s dominant mobile messenger KakaoTalk, is set to host a machine learning training camp on Jeju Island in July as part of efforts to ramp up Korea’s artificial intelligence technology development.

Kakao said Friday it will hold the “Machine Learning Camp Jeju 2017” from July 3-18 together with the Korean users of TensorFlow, Google’s open source machine learning system. 

The plans come as the Korean mobile giant has set artificial intelligence as a key priority with the formation of a new subsidiary dedicated to AI research and development as well as plans to launch an AI-powered voice assistant platform by June.

At the Jeju-based training camp, 20 selected participants will be tasked with developing their own machine learning systems using TensorFlow during the camp with the aid of international experts in machine learning, an advanced form of artificially intelligent computing.

The camp will invite distinguished keynote speakers including Jeff Dean, a senior fellow at Google’s Systems and Infrastructure Group, Rajat Monga, Engineering Director at Google Brain’s TensorFlow as well as other international computer engineering experts.

It will also feature mentors to assist the camp’s participants including Kakao Brain’s head of research Kim Nam-ju and Kim Sung-hun, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Individuals of all ages who have studied machine learning and experienced TensorFlow are invited to apply, the company said.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)