The LG AI Research Institute is accelerating the development of frontier-level AI models, having improved the performance of its proprietary AI (artificial intelligence) foundation model by more than 70% in just eight weeks.
At the 'NVIDIA AI Day Seoul 2026' held at COEX in Seoul on the 9th, LG AI Research Institute announced that it would open the API for free so that anyone can use the performance-enhanced 'K-Exaone 2.5.' An API is a tool designed to allow data exchange between different programs, serving the role of retrieving internal materials from specific servers into users' software (apps).
'K-Exaone 2.5' is a technology validation model that applies additional training to the proprietary second-generation foundation model released in August. Based on open datasets and self-measured results, it demonstrated performance competitive with frontier-level global open-weight AI models in the agentic AI domain.
LG AI Research Institute disclosed the results of four performance metrics evaluating agentic AI capabilities, which assess an AI's ability to independently plan and use tools to complete actual tasks. The comparison targets are DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GLM 5.3 (Max), representative frontier-level open-weight models from China.
'K-Exaone 2.5' recorded the following scores: △74.6 points on 'Automation Bench,' which evaluates task automation execution using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tools (DeepSeek 74.9, GLM 71.6); △77.3 points on 'CloEval,' which evaluates AI agents' problem-solving abilities in work environments (DeepSeek 75.8, GLM 77.6); △78.0 points on 'BrowseComp,' which evaluates the ability to search the web and find necessary information (DeepSeek 75.8, GLM 79.0); and △59.2 points on 'SWE-Bench Pro (Software Engineering Bench Pro),' which evaluates task execution in software development and modification (DeepSeek 58.4, GLM 64.0).
Kim Eul-jeong, Head of Exaone Lab at LG AI Research Institute, stated, "Internal analysis confirmed that overall performance, based on a synthesis of 24 evaluation metrics, has improved by more than 70% compared to the model released in August." He added, "Through this technology validation model, we have independently secured core learning technologies to respond to the rapidly changing global benchmark environment and laid the foundation for achieving frontier-level performance."
Starting today, LG AI Research Institute is opening the 'K-Exaone 2.5' API completely free of charge through its own platform to begin real-world validation. Anyone, including developers, startups, companies, and research institutional investors, can utilize 'K-Exaone 2.5' for service development and research without additional costs by simply obtaining an API key.
LG AI Research Institute plans to expand opportunities for users to directly experience and apply Korean AI models through this free API access. It is also pursuing cooperation with NVIDIA. To enhance the inference processing efficiency and service scalability of its AI models, LG AI Research Institute is considering applying NVIDIA's 'Dynamo (high-performance operating system)' technology. NVIDIA previously published a Dynamo usage guide tailored for K-Exaone.
LG AI Research Institute plans to reflect its proprietary learning technologies, validated by 'K-Exaone 2.5' from data design through training—including data quality, post-training, and reinforcement learning—into the development process of the third-generation model.
Lim Woo-hyung, Co-Director of LG AI Research Institute, stated, "We are currently focusing our efforts on developing the third-generation model and expect that this API release will allow more developers and companies to directly experience the improved performance." He added, "We will concentrate on completing an Exaone model with frontier-level performance by January next year."
Previously, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo highlighted 'selection and concentration' as the starting point for innovation in his New Year's address this year, emphasizing, "After making a selection, one must dig deep to a level that others consider impossible."
in INDUSTRY
