NC AI Named Lead Organization for Korea’s K Content AI Innovation Project
Company to Oversee KRW 10 Billion Initiative Aimed at Transforming Global Content Production
NC AI, one of Korea’s most prominent AI companies, announced on the 24th that it has been selected as the lead organization for the 2025 K Content AI Innovation Project, a major national initiative overseen by the Korea Creative Content Agency. With a budget totaling KRW 10 billion including cofunding, it is the largest single task budget among KOCCA supported programs to date.
To carry out the project, NC AI has formed the K Content AI Alliance, partnering with leading companies across entertainment, production, and digital technology. The alliance includes Imaginus, producer of the Disney Plus series Polaris, YN Culture and Space, a YG affiliated entertainment tech firm, Studio EON, a 3D animation studio specializing in AI and Unreal Engine, Oasys Studio, a cloud based VFX provider, and MONQ, a global platform developer. Together, these organizations aim to modernize the entire content pipeline from planning and production to worldwide distribution.
NC AI’s designation as the project’s lead reflects its position as a national frontrunner in media AI. Its foundation model, VARCO LLM, built from the ground up using high quality pretraining data, serves as the backbone of the initiative. The company’s multimodal AI suite, covering fashion, sound, voice, and 3D, will be fully integrated into the program.
One key component is VARCO Art Fashion, a generative AI model specialized for the fashion sector and previously applied in collaborations with major Korean brands such as F and F, Shinsegae International, and Communication and Culture. The technology will support costume creation for virtual artists and enable avatar based styling. VARCO Voice, which includes text to speech and voice conversion technologies, will be used to generate and transform K pop idol voices, allowing producers to apply multiple vocal tones directly in music production.
VARCO 3D, the company’s rapid 3D asset creation technology, will also play a central role. It can generate high quality 3D models from text or images while preserving artistic and historical consistency. The tool will be used to create avatars for virtual artists and visual assets for music videos, enhancing immersion in K pop performances and digital stages.
Through the project, NC AI plans to introduce an AI based production format for K pop, develop virtual artist IP packages, and build a fan participatory AI ecosystem. A comprehensive One Source Multi Use structure will allow assets to be deployed across games, merchandise, virtual concerts, and other business sectors, significantly accelerating time to market.
In the long term, the company aims to expand these production formats globally and position them as international standards. NC AI envisions adapting its AI powered workflow to cultural content rooted in the heritage of different countries, transforming itself from a content producer into a global platform company offering next generation creation tools.
“We are honored to be selected as the lead organization for the K Content AI Innovation Project” said Kim Min Jae, Chief Technology Officer of NC AI and the project’s principal investigator. “Our goal is not simply to apply AI to content production. We aim to create new forms of cultural expression that combine Korea’s creative heritage with advanced AI technologies and introduce a new paradigm for K content on the world stage.”
The company’s latest achievement follows its selection for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Independent AI Foundation Model Project, further establishing NC AI as one of Korea’s leading forces in artificial intelligence development.