LG Fosters Future AI Talent with Youth Hackathon

[Financial News] LG is taking the lead in fostering the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) talent. It is leading youth AI education by hosting the LG Aimers Hackathon, a hands-on program that uses AI technology to solve industry challenges, and opening applications for the LG AI Youth Camp, which supports the growth of AI unicorns in partnership with Seoul National University.
LG said on the 20th that a record 3,393 young people participated in the ninth LG Aimers Hackathon, held at LG Academy in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, over two days and one night beginning on the 19th. After completing online education and the online hackathon preliminary round, 96 finalists emerged from a 34-to-1 competition.
LG is providing all finalists with a total of 100 million won in support.
The theme of this hackathon was "Developing an AI model to predict the probability of a pitcher's successful pitch control," a challenge set by LG Sports.
The hackathon involved developing predictive metrics with AI rather than relying on existing outcome-based indicators, such as earned run average and walk and strikeout rates.
LG Sports explained that it set the challenge because, although it has already achieved results by applying data-driven decision-making to baseball, it hoped to identify new metrics based on the fresh perspectives of talented young people.
Participants gained hands-on experience by developing AI models to predict the probability of successfully controlling the next pitch, using contextual information such as whether the game was favorable or unfavorable, the importance of the game, recent game trends, and pitcher-specific characteristics.
After the competition ended, LG evaluated the submitted code, model performance, and oral presentation results to award a total of 10 million won to the top three teams. The winners will be exempt from the document-screening stage when applying to join LG. An LG official said, "More important than a good AI model is finding what can be changed with AI," adding, "Data is a tool for solving problems in the field, and I hope the young people who participated in the hackathon will grow to the next level through this experience."
LG will publicly recruit 100 participants for the fourth LG AI Youth Camp through the 22nd of next month, giving young people the opportunity to experience solving everyday problems with AI.
Selected participants in the LG AI Youth Camp can take part in a domestic education program that begins with a three-day, two-night session at Seoul National University next February and continues through May. For 10 weeks, they will work on team projects each week with mentors who are current Seoul National University students.
LG will select outstanding participants from the domestic program and provide them with the opportunity to join a two-week overseas education program in Silicon Valley during the summer vacation.
The LG AI Youth Camp is open to anyone enrolled in sixth grade of elementary school through the second year of middle school as of this year, and participation is completely free.

[email protected] Park So-hyun Reporter