LG gives the K-EXAONE 2.5 API free to all users

LG AI Research told that it opens the API of K-EXAONE 2.5 to the public at no cost. It made the announcement at NVIDIA AI Day Seoul 2026. Developers, companies and research institutions get access from the same day through the EXAONE website. K-EXAONE is part of the plan of South Korea for a national AI model.

How it works

An API lets software use the functions of an AI model. LG makes the K-EXAONE series for a project of the South Korea Ministry of Science and ICT. The project selects the national AI model.

The numbers

LG tells that the model got 74.6 on Automation Bench, a global test. It tells that this is level with DeepSeek V4.1 Flash. LG also tells that 24 combined measures are up by more than 70% in two months. This comes from an internal analysis by LG. LG gave no external test results.

What is not known

LG plans to finish K-EXAONE 3.0 in January 2027. The source gives no price after the free period. It gives no limits of use and no end date.

Insight: LG gives an older model free while it builds the next one

The South Korea government tells that two finalists for the national AI model project come in February. It also plans 4.7 trillion won for a frontier AI project from March 2027. LG releases version 2.5 free and plans version 3.0 for January 2027. This reads as a race for use by developers before the finalists are known. Look at which two names go on in February.