From Gwangju AI Academy graduate to startup founder

"I had no idea where or how to begin with AI. At the Gwangju AI Academy I received intensive training and mentoring, and ended up achieving something bigger — founding my own company."

Song Ja-yeon, 26, CEO of Neulbom Mind, moved from her hometown of Gunpo in Gyeonggi Province to Gwangju on the strength of a single wish: to learn AI. She made the move in order to enrol at the Gwangju AI Academy. Song says she came across the academy by chance on social media and became convinced she could turn her interest in AI into a career.

Two things drew her in particular: nine hours of intensive daily training, and the chance to grow alongside people who shared the same goal.

"There are only about twenty places, and I was excited about growing with people who wanted the same thing," Song said. "What I learned at the academy shaped my path toward founding an AI technology company."

Song says the value was not simply in attending classes. Working on team projects with fellow trainees — collaborating and applying what they had learned — helped her the most.

Song, who completed the visual intelligence track, said she was satisfied with the programme: "The goal of the visual intelligence track goes beyond having AI analyse images and video. It is about understanding context through text recognition and object detection. There is a lot you miss studying lectures alone, and it was good to form a team, collaborate with members who had different strengths, and apply what we learned."

Song also credits the support she received at the academy, including mentoring for trainees, with giving her the confidence to start a company.

"When you enrol, they ask whether your goal is employment or entrepreneurship," she said. "When I said entrepreneurship, they put those of us who wanted to start companies into a club and gave us mentoring. They even had us rehearse presenting in front of real judges. That active support let me hold on to a bigger dream."

Building on that experience, Song completed the academy programme in June last year and founded Neulbom Mind in July of the same year with support from the Gwangju Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency.