"85% Employment Rate Milestone"... Samsung SSAFY 14th Cohort Graduates

Cumulative Employment Rate of 85% Over 13 Cohorts Since Launch
60% of 1,725-Hour Annual Curriculum Dedicated to AI

Samsung announced on June 30 that it held the 14th graduation ceremony at the Samsung Youth Software and AI Academy (SSAFY) Seoul Campus in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

The graduation ceremony was attended by Kwon Changjun, Vice Minister of Employment and Labor; Ryu Seokyoung, professor at KAIST’s School of Computing and SSAFY advisory board member; Seunghee Park, President of Corporate Relations at Samsung Electronics; as well as over 100 graduates and their families.

On the 30th, graduates who attended the graduation ceremony of the 14th class of the Samsung Youth Software and AI Academy (SSAFY) at the SSAFY Seoul Campus in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, along with related officials including Kwon Changjun, Vice Minister of Employment and Labor, and Park Seunghui, President in charge of Corporate Responsibility at Samsung Electronics (third from the left in the front row), are posing for a commemorative photo. Samsung Electronics

The most notable feature of the 14th graduating class is that they completed an "AI-immersive curriculum," in which artificial intelligence (AI) was incorporated into every stage, from planning to infrastructure. To keep pace with the recent surge in AI adoption across all industries, SSAFY dedicated an impressive 1,025 hours—60% of the total 1,725-hour regular curriculum—to AI theory and practical training.

The program not only established a state-of-the-art AI server environment equipped with high-performance GPUs, but also provided every student with a GPU-based AI development PC. Trainees freely used the latest generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude to train and experiment with practical-level AI models themselves.

This high-performance infrastructure led to tangible AI project outcomes through team projects by the graduates. Notable projects presented by this year's class included the "X-STRIX" team's security robot and the "SPOT GET IT" team's rescue robot.

Since the launch of the first cohort in 2018, SSAFY has produced a cumulative total of approximately 11,000 graduates through its 13th cohort, with 9,396 of them successfully finding employment—an employment rate of 85%. When including early hires from the 14th cohort, whose selection process is still ongoing, the total number of employed graduates is approaching 10,000. Graduates have gone on to work not only at major IT affiliates of large corporations such as Samsung Electronics, Hyundai AutoEver, and Lotte Innovate, but also at financial institutions including BNK Busan Bank.

Internally, Samsung has systematically fostered AI and software talent, while also making continuous efforts to expand the national AI and software ecosystem. Specifically, these initiatives include the "SW Membership" program (launched in 1991) to discover and nurture university students with software talent; the establishment of a "software job category" for new university graduates (2011); and the "SCSA" program (2013) for nurturing and recruiting software talent from the liberal arts field.

Seunghee Park, President of Corporate Relations at Samsung Electronics, stated, "AI is no longer just a technology of the future—it is fundamentally transforming the way we work, and you are the ones who will create new possibilities in the midst of this change. I encourage you to bravely take on the challenges that lie ahead, and even if you encounter failure, it will serve as the foundation for your future success."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.