"One Step Closer to AI G3 Goal"... LG AI Research Develops World's Third Hybrid AI

LG AI Research unveiled South Korea's first hybrid AI model, "EXAONE 4.0," on the 15th. With OpenAI announcing that GPT-5 is being developed as a hybrid AI, LG has demonstrated Korea's independent AI model development capabilities by being first to complete and showcase a hybrid model. This symbolic achievement comes at a time when the Korean government is emphasizing its "AI G3" (AI powerhouse top 3) goal and sovereign AI, proving that Korea can create world-class AI models without foreign dependence.

What's particularly noteworthy is LG's overwhelming speed in domestic AI technology competition. Just two weeks after Naver unveiled its reasoning AI "HyperCLOVA X Think" on June 30th, LG presented a more evolved hybrid AI. While Naver's HyperCLOVA X Think was a single model specialized in reasoning functions, LG's EXAONE 4.0 achieved a fully integrated model that combines large language models (LLM) with reasoning AI. By completing true hybrid AI beyond simple reasoning AI, this is being evaluated as setting a new milestone for Korean AI technology.

◇ World's Third Hybrid AI Development

Hybrid AI is next-generation AI technology that combines the rapid response capabilities of existing large language models (LLM) with the deep thinking abilities of reasoning AI. It provides immediate answers to simple questions while establishing and verifying hypotheses for complex problems, reasoning step-by-step to present accurate solutions. Unlike existing AI that simply learns patterns to provide answers, it enables flexible thinking appropriate to different situations. Users can choose between "fast mode" and "deep reasoning mode" as needed, allowing efficient management of time and costs while obtaining more reliable results.

Currently, only three companies worldwide have unveiled hybrid AI. US-based Anthropic led the way with "Claude 3.7 Sonnet" in February this year, followed by China's Alibaba with "Qwen 3" in April. Korea's LG AI Research became the third player with "EXAONE 4.0," creating a three-way competition between Korea, the US, and China.

A notable point is that even OpenAI has not yet completed hybrid AI. While they announced GPT-5 is being developed as a hybrid model, LG has presented a completed hybrid model ahead of them. This is a symbolic achievement showing that Korea is not simply following overseas technology but can lead the global AI market with its independent technology roadmap.

◇ Proving Practicality with World-Class Performance and Expert-Level Knowledge

EXAONE 4.0 recorded world-class performance on major AI benchmarks. It achieved 92.3 points on MMLU-Redux, which evaluates AI's knowledge level and problem-solving abilities, and 81.8 points on MMLU-Pro. For coding abilities measured by LiveCodeBench v6, it scored 66.7 points. It achieved 75.4 points on GPQA-Diamond, which evaluates scientific problem-solving capabilities, and 85.3 points on AIME 2025, which measures mathematical problem-solving abilities. These achievements surpassed representative open-source models from global tech companies including Google, Meta, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Mistral AI.

Particularly, the 32B expert model demonstrated remarkable expertise by passing written exams for six nationally certified professional qualifications including doctor, dentist, traditional Korean medicine pharmacist, customs officer, real estate appraiser, and insurance adjuster. The self-verification capability, a strength of hybrid AI, particularly shines in these professional fields. This is because AI can self-examine reasoning processes, correct errors, and provide more accurate answers in complex medical diagnoses or legal consultations.

The 1.2B on-device model, despite its smaller size, showed performance exceeding OpenAI's GPT-4o mini. It offers advantages in personal information protection and security as it processes directly within devices without external server connections. This demonstrates another advantage of hybrid AI - efficiency. By delivering sufficient performance even with lightweight models when needed, AI can be applied to various devices from smartphones to automobiles and home appliances.

◇ Building Korean AI Hub Through Ecosystem Development

LG AI Research has open-sourced EXAONE 4.0 on Hugging Face and launched commercial API services in cooperation with FriendliAI. This enables anyone from individual developers to enterprises to utilize hybrid AI without high-performance GPUs. At the "EXAONE Partners Day" held on the 15th, collaboration plans were discussed with 22 domestic partner companies, marking a full-scale entry into building a hybrid AI ecosystem.

Fo llowing the domestic-first reasoning AI "EXAONE Deep" in March, LG AI Research's move to unveil hybrid AI just four months later is becoming a signal flare announcing Korean AI technological capabilities to the world. LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo emphasized in his New Year's address that "we will create a new lifestyle where people can use cutting-edge technologies like AI conveniently in daily life, allowing them to spend precious time on more enjoyable and meaningful activities."