G-Dragon's KAIST visiting professorship and the track sent into space

G-Dragon has carried a title from outside music. On 5 June 2024, KAIST — the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, in Daejeon — said in its official news that it had appointed the singer G-Dragon, whose given name is Kwon Ji-yong, as a visiting professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. KAIST put the term at two years, from 4 June 2024 to June 2026. Within those two years the university announced a research centre inside the mechanical engineering department, and on 9 April 2025 it said it had run an experiment at its Space Research Institute that transmitted one of his tracks into space. Here is what the appointment was, and what was built during it, as set out in the official announcements and press reports.

The certificate was presented at Innovate Korea 2024

KAIST said in its official news of 5 June 2024 that it had appointed the singer G-Dragon as a visiting professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The certificate of appointment was presented that morning at the Innovate Korea 2024 event, held at the university’s Sports Complex.

• KAIST gave the term as two years, from 4 June 2024 to June 2026. Its English-language release stated the same period.
• Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that KAIST appointed G-Dragon a visiting professor in mechanical engineering and handed over the certificate at the event. The outlet reported that during the term he would give leadership lectures for undergraduate and graduate students.
• KAIST said Visiting Professor Kwon Ji-yong would take the podium for leadership lectures and would also hold cultural events to communicate with members of the university.
• KAIST said he was also appointed a KAIST Global Ambassador and would take part in the university’s overseas promotion.

KAIST explained that the appointment was pursued in order to apply the university’s latest science and technology to K-content and the cultural industry, and so widen the global competitiveness of Korean culture. President Kwang Hyung Lee said KAIST “has always been a university that explores new things and pioneers unknown territory since its founding.”

Kwon Ji-yong said it was “an honour to become a visiting professor at KAIST, which produces so many scientific geniuses,” and added that he hoped “the top experts in science and technology meeting my own specialist field of entertainment will produce great synergy — a ‘big bang’.”

In its release KAIST noted that G-Dragon released his third solo album, Kwon Ji Yong, in June 2017 in USB form rather than on CD, and that he attended CES in Las Vegas in the United States in January 2024.

An entertech research centre inside mechanical engineering

KAIST said it would establish the KAIST-Galaxy Corporation Entertech Research Center (working title) inside the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that KAIST planned to set up the centre together with Galaxy Corporation, G-Dragon’s agency, and pursue joint research there.

The research plan KAIST set out has three strands.

• Digital twin technology research aimed at hallyu artists — hallyu being the Korean wave, the export of Korean popular culture
• Convergence research linking K-culture with science and technology such as artificial intelligence, robotics and the metaverse
• Development of artist avatars using technologies including volumetric capture, motion capture and haptics

KAIST explained entertech as a compound of entertainment and technology: an industry that creates new added value by combining ICT with intellectual property (IP) and content, the core assets of entertainment.

Kwon Ji-yong said that “in music too, more and more people are working with artificial intelligence, and this kind of advanced technology makes a wider variety of creative work possible.” He added: “Through the AI avatar developed jointly by Galaxy Corporation and KAIST, I want to communicate more closely with fans around the world whom I cannot meet often.”

9 April 2025: a track sent into space

KAIST said that on 9 April 2025 it carried out a media-art-based space sound source transmission project at the KAIST Space Research Institute. The university announced it as the world’s first space sound source transmission project based on media art. KAIST’s English-language release gave the official English name of the project as the Space Sound Source Transmission Project.

The project was a collaboration between Professor Jinjoon Lee of the KAIST Graduate School of Culture Technology and G-Dragon. Professor Lee is recorded in KAIST’s announcement as the creator of the cinematic media art work ‘Iris’ made for the project. KAIST explained that the project was proposed as part of the AI Entertech Research Center that KAIST and Galaxy Corporation are pursuing.

• KAIST said the experiment connected the university’s space technology, Professor Jinjoon Lee’s media art work, and G-Dragon’s voice and his track ‘HOME SWEET HOME’.
• KAIST said the collaboration was conceived around the theme of an emotional signal extending the universe within the human interior out into the universe outside.
• G-Dragon’s iris image was augmented through AI, and the song ‘HOME SWEET HOME’ was combined as an audio message carrying the vibration of emotion.
• KAIST said this was actually transmitted into space through a next-generation small satellite developed by the Space Research Institute.
• At the site, ‘Iris’ was screened by projection mapping onto the Space Research Institute’s 13m space antenna. Electronic Times reported the same detail.
• ‘Iris’ is a video made with generative artificial intelligence from G-Dragon’s iris image, combined with sound using bell data from the Emile Bell.

Professor Jinjoon Lee said: “The iris is called the ‘mirror of the soul’, a symbol that reflects inner emotion and identity, and this work sought to express ‘the infinite universe seen through the human interior’, following G-Dragon’s gaze.” He also said: “Space is the domain of technology and at the same time a stage for imagination and emotion,” calling the project “a new attempt to speak of art in the language of science, including AI, and to imagine science in the form of art.”

The KAIST Space Research Institute said the project presented a new possibility for the use of satellite technology. Electronic Times reported that the project was carried out at the KAIST Space Research Institute on 9 April 2025, and introduced G-Dragon as an artist signed to Galaxy Corporation and a visiting professor in KAIST’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The song that went to space: ‘HOME SWEET HOME’

The track transmitted into space is the same song as the official audio for ‘HOME SWEET HOME’, released on 22 November 2024 on G-Dragon’s official YouTube channel, OfficialGDRAGON. The video’s title states that Taeyang and Daesung took part in the song. This is the track that was transmitted into space in the KAIST Space Research Institute experiment of April 2025.

Key takeaways

• KAIST said on 5 June 2024 that it had appointed G-Dragon a visiting professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, with the certificate presented that morning at Innovate Korea 2024, held at the university’s Sports Complex.
• KAIST gave the term as two years, from 4 June 2024 to June 2026, set out leadership lectures and cultural events as his role, and also appointed him a KAIST Global Ambassador.
• KAIST said it would establish the KAIST-Galaxy Corporation Entertech Research Center (working title) inside the mechanical engineering department, covering digital twin research, convergence of K-culture with AI, robotics and the metaverse, and artist avatar development.
• KAIST said that in the space sound source transmission project run at its Space Research Institute on 9 April 2025, the track ‘HOME SWEET HOME’ and his voice were transmitted into space through a next-generation small satellite.
• Professor Jinjoon Lee’s media art work ‘Iris’ is a video made from G-Dragon’s iris image with generative artificial intelligence, screened by projection mapping onto a 13m space antenna.