SK Opens Applications for First Cohort of AIGEN, a Two-Year Non-Degree Program

SK said on October 12 that it is launching SK AIGEN, a two-year non-degree talent program, and has begun recruiting its first cohort. Applications are open from 9 a.m. KST on November 1 through the 15th. Around 50 people will be selected for a two-year full-time course running from March 2027 to December 2028, and each participant will receive a growth stipend worth about 3 million won a month. The name combines AI with Generation.

The bar to apply is set low. According to the official application guide that METAL reviewed, the program is open to South Korean nationals aged 19 to 34 who can commit to the full two years. Education and major don't matter, and no coding experience or specialist AI knowledge is required. Combining the program with regular schooling or a job is described as difficult. SK says it will consider any field, from technology and research to culture, the arts and public service, and that it is looking less for finished answers than for what an applicant wants to change and what they have actually tried. It names three types of talent it wants: challengers, achievers and innovators.

Learning starts from problems. Instead of working through a fixed curriculum first, participants meet everyday frustrations, community and public-sector challenges, and problems from real company settings, and then build solutions. The cycle has four stages: finding the problem, learning AI together with peers, acting, and getting feedback to improve. The first year is built from six modules. Example projects include an AI personal assistant that organizes scattered schedules and to-dos, a data-driven ingredient-ordering helper that cuts food waste at local restaurants, and a startup path from idea discovery through building an MVP to testing it in the market. The year ends with a project portfolio and a presentation. In the second year, participants explore a career in a relevant field based on a plan they set themselves. SK adds that these activities are examples and that specific topics and their order may change.

The organizers and support package have also been disclosed. mySUNI, which has led learning for SK employees, will plan and run the program, and the Seoul National University AI Institute will help with humanistic insight and career design. Field experts and mentors will give advice and feedback on project work. Participants also get a space to focus in, AI tools, software and a laptop, and peers to take on challenges with. Park Sang-kyu, president of mySUNI, said, "We plan to select participants every year and establish this as SK's flagship talent program."

What stands out is how few conditions the program attaches. SK says it guarantees participants neither a degree nor a job at an SK affiliate, and in return imposes no obligation after completion. The intent is to carry on the approach of late Chairman Chey Jong-hyon, who founded the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies in 1974 and paid for scholars to study abroad with few strings attached. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said on KBS's "War for Talent 2," broadcast on May 28, "In the AI era the definition of talent is changing, so we have to build capabilities different from before." On the same show, he reportedly stressed that "training to absorb knowledge quickly and do well on exams will now be replaced by AI." METAL has previously reported that the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training laid out a national human resource development strategy for an era of triple transition: demographics, AI and climate, and AIGEN's selection criteria, which look at problem-solving experience rather than academic credentials, fit the same trend.

Selection has five stages. From November 1 to 15, applicants submit an application and portfolio covering their experience, activities and results. In November, an AI interview explores their experience and thinking. In early December comes a basic thinking-skills check that tests information comprehension, judgment and reasoning, and in December a project interview, with individual and group projects, looks at how applicants solve problems. The timing differs between sources. SK says it will finalize around 50 people at the end of December, but the process guide on the official page lists final selection as January 2027.

The deadlines are close. An in-person briefing session will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, in the basement level 3 conference hall of the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, with registration opening at 3 p.m. on October 15. The apply button on the official page currently shows that the application link is being prepared. Schedules and application details are available on the official SK AIGEN page, and inquiries can go to aigen@sk.com.