SK Telecom (SKT) stepped up efforts to drive an ambitious global AI strategy, investing $100 million in US-based Anthropic following an initial injection in May.

The operator stated the equity funding is more than a financial investment, noting as a strategic investor it plans to jointly develop a multilingual large language model (LLM) for global telecoms companies and build an AI platform enabling the development of customised services.

The LLM will cover languages including Korean, English, German, Japanese, Arabic and Spanish.

Anthropic will supply SKT with tools to fine tune and optimise the basic macro language model.

The generative AI company was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees and raised $450 million in funding in late May led by venture capital company Spark Capital, with investments from Google, SKT, Salesforce Ventures and others.

SKT is working to transition into an AI company by using the technology to redefine its core businesses and connect with customers.

Last month it formed the Global Telco AI Alliance together with Deutsche Telekom, e& and Singtel.

In March, SKT appointed a second AI expert as an outside director, beefing-up its board’s technical nous following a restructuring in 2022 to drive its ambitions in the field.