KAIST’s new president, Bae Choong-sik, pledged on Monday to cultivate “AI warriors” with strong academic fundamentals, outlining a vision to transform the university into a national innovation platform by combining deep disciplinary expertise with artificial intelligence. Appearing in a dress shirt, Bae delivered his inaugural address as a presentation, the first such speech in KAIST’s history, during which a humanoid robot and a quadruped robot developed by the university performed a dance. In his roughly 20-minute speech, Bae mentioned “AI” 44 times and “fundamentals” 10 times, and unveiled his “Five Beyond Strategies” focusing on AI, laboratories, boundaries, carbon and expanding KAIST’s global role. A mechanical engineering professor by training, Bae said AI should become the foundation of every academic discipline rather than remain confined to a single field. “In order to lead the AI era, a strong foundation in basic academic disciplines is essential,” he said, adding that KAIST will strengthen education in mathematics and other natural sciences while expanding laboratory training and humanities and social science education. To support this, KAIST plans to classify every course by AI integration level, reorganizing the curriculum into three tiers: courses that prohibit AI use, AI-assisted classes, and advanced courses where students design and develop AI systems.