SK Telecom Releases Korean-Specific Mobile AI Model

South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom has released AX 3.1 Lite, a compact 7-billion-parameter large language model (LLM) designed specifically for Korean language use and optimized for mobile devices. Developed entirely in-house and trained on 1.65 trillion tokens with a focus on Korean content, AX 3.1 Lite offers performance comparable to its much larger 72-billion-parameter sibling, AX 4.0 Lite, scoring 96% on the KMMLU Korean language benchmark and surpassing it on the CLIcK cultural intelligence test. The model runs efficiently on smartphones without reliance on cloud servers, supporting use cases that require low power consumption and adherence to privacy regulations by keeping data local. SK Telecom released AX 3.1 Lite as an open-source model via Hugging Face to foster community collaboration and accelerate improvements through real-world feedback. This release is part of SK Telecom’s broader AI strategy, which includes building hyperscale AI data centers, offering GPU-as-a-Service, and expanding edge AI capabilities under initiatives like the AI Infrastructure Superhighway. These efforts aim to enhance South Korea’s AI sovereignty and competitiveness by enabling efficient, localized AI applications on mobile and edge devices.