SEOUL, South Korea—August 29, 2023—Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, today announced that leading South Korean game developer NCSOFT has launched seven large language models (LLM) on Amazon SageMaker JumpStart, which provides pre-trained, open source models to help customers get started with machine learning (ML). By launching its suite of Via AI, Realize your Creativity and Originality (VARCO) LLMs on Amazon SageMaker JumpStart, NCSOFT aims to accelerate the uptake of generative artificial intelligence (generative AI), a type of AI that can create new content across a broad range of industries and make it easier for Korean organizations to build specialized applications using native language.
LLMs are a subset of ML models focused on language that can power a broad range of generative AI applications, from text processing and summarization to question answering. While these LLMs have the potential to transform industries, the process of building, training, and deploying an LLM can take weeks, if not months, and cost tens of billions of won, putting them out of reach of many companies. Amazon SageMaker JumpStart makes it easier for customers to get started with generative AI by leveraging pre-built solutions such as NCSOFT’s VARCO LLMs, customize them with their own datasets without training models from scratch, and launch new applications that are tailored to a specific use case.
NCSOFT’s VARCO suite is available for AWS customers to use now and comprises seven LLMs. Game developers, for example, can use multiple VARCO LLMs for game production, visual content creation, and scriptwriting via text prompts. In addition, NCSOFT announced the launch of its first Korean-English bilingual model, which supports companies that operate globally. In 2024, VARCO Art, a text-to-image generation tool; VARCO Text, a text generation and management tool; and VARCO Human, an integrated tool for creating, editing, and managing digital humans, such as virtual customer service representatives, will be launched.
NCSOFT also launched its VARCO LLMs in AWS Marketplace, a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors that makes it easy to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on AWS. NCSOFT will be able to expand the reach of its VARCO LLMs to more than 330,000 global active customers using AWS Marketplace while streamlining procurement.
“We are pleased to launch an LLM on Amazon SageMaker JumpStart, creating a launchpad for businesses to experiment with new use cases and create innovative solutions for problems old and new,” said Yeonsoo Lee, head of the Natural Language Processing Center at NCSOFT. “Generative AI is revolutionizing many industries, and to have a Korean option for our local developers is a first step in democratizing this transformative technology. We look forward to accelerating the development of even more user-friendly generative AI options with AWS.”
“Gaming, entertainment, and ecommerce industries are rapidly adopting generative AI and cloud technologies to keep up with the demand for accelerated content development,” said Kee Ho Ham, managing director of AWS Korea. “NCSOFT is making generative AI widely available to developers and businesses in Korean so that more companies can easily develop better content for South Korean viewers, players, and shoppers. We look forward to helping NCSOFT extend the reach of their LLMs to more customers by scaling their offering globally with the support of AWS Marketplace.”
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