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How Can We Use Data and AI? - A Report on the Geul-tto Data/AI Roundtable
This time, not as a member of the organizing committee, but as a participant!!! 🔭
This time, not as a member of the organizing committee, but as a participant!!! 🔭
On February 13, the Geul-Tto 10th Cohort Data/AI Class Meeting was held! It had been a long time since I’d been able to attend as an observer, so I went with a slightly lighthearted attitude :) And as always, attending the class meeting was a happy and wonderful experience♥️ I’d like to share what I experienced and my thoughts on it!
What does the term “ban-sang-hoe,” commonly used within Geul-tto, actually refer to? According to Geul-tto’s GitHub, it’s defined as follows:
🤝 An offline gathering of a “Village.” The name was chosen with the hope that participants would discuss key agenda items or simply catch up on how everyone’s been doing.
At Geul-tto, there are units called 'Villages', organized by job role, and these gatherings provide a space where Village members can give presentations and network. These are called 'Village Gatherings', where you can enjoy a cozy chat with people you haven’t seen in a while. You could call them small “conferences.”
As a backend engineer, I attended the Backend/Infrastructure Village Meeting during the 9th cohort, and this time around, I’m participating as a member of the organizing team preparing for the meeting.
Although it wasn’t the Village I belong to, anyone can participate freely, so I decided to attend the Data/AI Ban Sanghoe this time. So, why did I attend?
To delve deeper, I collaborate with the company’s Data Business Division and work alongside data engineers and AI engineers. Additionally, from a business perspective, I often seek advice from data analysts. Ultimately, I believe that to truly understand our products, we must not only load the data but also understand how to utilize and interpret it. Since I believe that technical solutions can only be achieved by deepening our understanding of the data used at the company, I’ve always wanted to stay well-informed.
I’ve also always had a strong interest in AI itself. While I’m currently focusing more on my day job, there was a time when my interest in AI was so deep that I even considered pursuing a graduate degree. Now that AI is advancing faster than expected and changing the world, I haven’t been able to keep up with that pace, but I wanted to gain insights into how to keep up with this trend and what business strategies can be developed using AI.
While data and AI technologies are certainly important, I’ve always felt firsthand that the use of data and AI is crucial for decision-making and methodology when facing the various problems scattered throughout the world, and I applied to attend because I was curious about the perspectives of professionals in the field.
This meeting was held at Kurly. At the top of the Kurly building was a cafeteria-style space called the Kurly Lounge. The meeting took place there.
As with other Ban Sanghoe events, they handed out plenty of swag. Towels with cute slogans, cute Geul-ttobot stickers, KakaoBank stickers, and more... What made this meeting special was that, in celebration of Valentine’s Day, they handed out a piece of chocolate to each person—chocolates with fortune messages inside. They told us to first think of a problem we wanted to solve and then look at the message on the chocolate for the answer.
TMI, but I was curious about my love life this year....
I’ll try even harder to be more and more generous...🤣
And for dinner, Cray Cheese Burgers were served. 🍔 I’ve been seeing Kry Cheese Burgers a lot at various IT conferences lately, and it’s always a pleasure to see them. Not only are Kry Cheese Burgers delicious, but the CEO’s heartfelt letters always touch my heart.
Then, the meeting officially began with a keynote speech by Lee Sang-hyup, who is part of the Curly team.
There were two presentation sessions at this meeting. The sessions were well-structured, featuring presentations and even a short quiz.
I was already intrigued when the topics of the two presenters were announced, and I found the actual presentations to be incredibly engaging.
The presenter, Jeong-yeon, explained her journey—from how she first got into the field of robotics to how she’s advancing robotics AI at her current company—alongside a timeline of her life. It was a truly wonderful presentation.
Honestly, from my perspective, the title alone was impossible not to find intriguing. Robotics and AI... There was a time when I seriously considered transferring to mechanical engineering, so the field of robotics remains an object of admiration for me even now. While I sometimes wonder, “Was I really that serious?” since I haven’t actually achieved anything in that field, there’s still a part of my heart that’s eager to explore it. Listening to Jeongyeon’s presentation this time made me feel that desire welling up again. So I decided I should go through the lecture materials she recommended.
Moreover, I found it incredibly inspiring to see how challenges in the field of robotics are being addressed more easily and quickly by integrating AI technology, and I was struck anew by how amazing technological advancement and collaboration can be, which made me want to explore this field further.
Ms. Jang Hoi-jeong was already well-known within the Geul-tto community. I had heard her name before simply because she runs the community “Moyegong,” which she introduced during this presentation. Since it was a presentation by someone like her, I had high expectations—and it exceeded them.
She shared various insights about formulating and testing hypotheses based on ideas that emerged while running the community, as well as the data collection methods and troubleshooting techniques required for that validation process.
I’d only ever thought about data analysis in broad terms before, but this made me realize, “Oh, I can actually try this in my daily life too.” And the fact that he attempted to troubleshoot in order to automate the data collection system as much as possible was very interesting from an engineering perspective. These days, it’s a world where you can’t get by with just one skill, and I was once again struck by how many people at Geul-tto have such a wide range of expertise.
Thanks to this, I found myself thinking, “I should try some experimental projects where I extract data from my daily life to test various hypotheses.” Even if it’s on a very small scale!
Both presentations were so impressive that I want to request a coffee chat as soon as possible to hear more in-depth stories and learn their know-how ☕
Each networking group at this meeting had a leader—and it just so happened to be me?!?!?!?! I heard the backstory later—apparently, they chose someone with high energy levels to be the group leader... lol. Since my energetic image was already well-established at Geul-to, I accepted my fate (?) lol. I figured that as long as I did a good job moderating, I’d at least break even.
Fortunately, the people in my group were great speakers and shared such interesting stories—it was really wonderful! Although our years of experience varied, everyone except me was an AI engineer, and I actually drew a lot of inspiration from them.
We talked about what to do in light of the rapid advancement of AI technology, how to ride the wave of the times, and what direction to take.
Of course… they also shared plenty of TMI about themselves. It was really fun, lol. I’ll definitely host the next Coffee Chat!
At Geul-tto, there are always situations that inspire me and people I meet along the way, but I don’t think there’s any other activity that lets me experience that as intensely as the Ban-sang-hoe. I think it’s because so many people gather, creating an opportunity to have in-depth conversations from a professional perspective. In particular, a major takeaway from this Ban Sang Hoi was that I was able to broaden my horizons regarding the fields of data and AI, which has sparked an even greater interest in exploring them further.
Plus, it was especially meaningful to be able to fully enjoy the Ban Sang Hoi as an observer for the first time in a while
, which made it all the more meaningful. The warm and charming touches scattered throughout the meeting made me grow even fonder of it. I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who helped organize this event. It’s a shame that the Geul-tto program is already more than 60% complete and that this cohort is the last one. Ban Sang-hoe… I hope we can do it again…🙏
