ETRI releases open-source AI development tool requiring no coding expertise

South Korean researchers have unveiled an integrated development tool that automates the entire AI pipeline — from model training and optimization to deployment.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced Monday that it has released TANGO, a no-code integrated development tool that allows industry practitioners with little AI expertise to build and deploy AI models on their own.

Previously, developing an AI service required a multi-step process: field experts prepared the data, AI specialists trained the model, and software developers integrated it into the actual system — a structure that demanded significant investment and specialized personnel.

TANGO consolidates that entire process into a single workflow. Users can train, optimize and deploy an AI model simply by selecting the functions they need through a web browser.

ETRI has been developing TANGO over the past five years since 2021. The institute first released TANGO 1, which focused on computer vision tasks such as image recognition, and has since advanced the technology with TANGO 2, which extends support to generative AI and large language models (LLMs).

TANGO 2 provides functions for training and managing LLMs using industry-specific data. AI models developed through the platform can be optimized and deployed across a range of environments — including cloud infrastructure, on-premise corporate servers and individual devices.

The research team has published LLMOps, the core generative AI development and operations solution at the heart of TANGO 2, on GitHub, the world's largest open-source development platform.

Real-world deployment is also gaining momentum. In the shipbuilding and maritime sector, Avnautics is piloting an autonomous navigation solution that uses AI to analyze data from various onboard sensors and support safe vessel operation. In agriculture, SureDataLab is building and commercializing a generative AI service for farms, trained on the expertise and knowledge of agricultural specialists.

In the medical field, Seoul National University Hospital has developed technology that automatically generates radiology reports using large-scale chest CT scan images and interpretation data. The hospital plans to pilot a cardiopulmonary disease prediction service at both Seoul National University Hospital and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital.

Technology transfer to the private sector is also bearing fruit. AI firm Acryl is incorporating ETRI's TANGO LLMOps technology into the development of its commercial product, Jonathan.

Persona AI, a company specializing in AI agents, received a technology transfer of TANGO from ETRI in April and has been strengthening its LLMOps capabilities since.

"TANGO is designed to help people who are not AI experts develop the AI services they need directly on the ground," said Cho Chang-sik, a senior researcher at ETRI. "We will provide an AI development environment that companies can put to practical use."

ETRI will hold the "5th TANGO Open Seminar" on Wednesday at the Korea Science and Technology Hall in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where it will present TANGO 2's key features and industry application cases.