Crafton appoints Kang-wook Lee as chief AI officer

PNN
Bangalore (Karnataka) [India]February 23: KRAFTON, Inc. announced that it has appointed Kangwook Lee, head of KRAFTON AI, to Chief AI Officer (CAIO), a newly created executive position to oversee the company’s AI research and development and medium- to long-term innovation strategy.
* Establish the role of CAIO to promote research and development of game AI and strengthen medium- to long-term innovation strategies.
– Appointed Kangwook Lee, former associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to promote KRAFTON’s game AI and medium- to long-term physics AI research
This appointment was made in recognition of Mr. Lee’s extensive AI expertise, leadership, and accumulated research results from his years of experience in AI technology R&D and project execution.
Mr. Lee received his PhD from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley in 2016 and previously served as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research spans AI fields such as deep learning and machine learning, and from 2022 he will also serve as head of KRAFTON AI, which spans both academic and industry work. He has focused on restructuring KRAFTON’s AI research framework to strengthen the company’s innovation capabilities and has led research and development in key AI domains such as machine learning (ML), language models (LM), natural language processing (NLP), reinforcement learning (RL), and multimodal models. Mr. Lee has been recognized for his research with a total of 57 papers accepted at major global AI conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, and ICLR.
Additionally, Lee has a proven success in leading major projects. In 2025, Lee led a project with NVIDIA to introduce Co-Playable Characters (CPCs) in KRAFTON, opening up new possibilities for gameplay by enabling real-time interaction between players and AI. Mr. Lee also led major innovation development at KRAFTON as part of a unique AI-based model project launched last year. Mr. Lee recently resigned from his tenured position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to focus on Crafton’s AI research and development and medium- to long-term innovation strategy. Mr. Lee will focus on driving research and development in game AI, drive technology expansion at KRAFTON, and explore future areas such as physics AI.
By appointing Mr. Lee as CAIO, Crafton intends to further strengthen its game AI research and development structure and strengthen its medium- to long-term business strategy based on fundamental technology. The company will also continue to hone AI as a tool to amplify developers’ creativity to enhance gameplay, with the sole purpose of providing a better experience for players.
With this direction, KRAFTON’s AI strategy operates across three pillars.
1) Improved gameplay
2) Improving work efficiency
3) Securing new growth drivers
Improved gameplay

KRAFTON improves gameplay by deploying AI features that can be meaningfully applied to games, including CPC designed to improve the quality of AI-driven interactive content. KRAFTON continues to establish common ground by enhancing core AI technologies that can directly enhance immersion and player experience. Based on this foundation, each KRAFTON studio retains ownership of the creative processes and tools it chooses to use according to the needs of its respective projects.
Improving work efficiency
KRAFTON streamlines workflows and reduces repetitive technical tasks, allowing teams to focus on creative planning, problem solving, and production. KRAFTON will enhance its tools for data analysis and development during the production phase, and improve the quality and stability of its services based on certified player data during the operational phase. KRAFTON aims to eliminate operational friction and systematically support and empower human creative work by providing a safe and efficient development environment.
Securing new growth drivers
KRAFTON will continue its research in physical AI and robotics by leveraging its fundamental AI capabilities and strengths as a game company. This research will be conducted through Ludo Robotics, a separate organization currently being established with a parent company in the United States and a subsidiary in South Korea. The Korean subsidiary will be led by CAIO Kangwook Lee. KRAFTON has been operating complex and large-scale game worlds for many years, and has a great advantage in physical AI and robotics research due to player interaction data accumulated through game development and services. In particular, the company is focused on long-term opportunities centered on software for robot intelligence, as the company is well-positioned to validate simulations in virtual gaming environments, especially those that are difficult to test in the real world.
CAIO Kangwook Lee emphasized that “KRAFTON uses AI as a tool to amplify human imagination and creativity, rather than replace it,” adding, “KRAFTON is rooted in our core gaming business and will continue to explore future possibilities backed by AI innovation and data for long-term growth and player value.”
CAIO
Kangwook Lee is KRAFTON’s CAIO, overseeing the company’s entire AI research and development efforts, including next-generation video game AI and game development AI. Previously, he was a tenured associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Computer Science (courtesy) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his PhD from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley in 2016. He has received multiple best paper awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, Amazon Research Award, KSEA Young Investigator Grant Award, and IEEE Joint Communications Society/Information Theory Society Paper Award. His professional services include serving as area chair for NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, and COLM, program committee for MLSys, and action editor for Transactions on Machine Learning Research.
About Crafton Co., Ltd.
Headquartered in South Korea, KRAFTON, Inc. is dedicated to discovering and publishing engaging games that provide fun and unique experiences. Founded in 2007, KRAFTON is behind PUBG STUDIOS, Striking Distance Studios, Unknown Worlds, Neon Giant, KRAFTON Montreal Studio, Bluehole Studio, RisingWings, 5minlab, Dreammotion, ReLU Games, Flyway Games, Tango Gameworks, inZOI Studio, JOFSOFT, Eleventh Hour Games, OmniCraft Labs, Olivetree Games, Loonshot Games, and 9B STUDIO. Each independent studio strives to continually take on new challenges and leverage innovative technology. Their goal is to gain more fans by expanding KRAFTON’s platform and services.
KRAFTON is responsible for premier game IPs including PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, PUBG MOBILE, PUBG: BLINDSPOT, inZOI, Subnautica, MIMESIS, Hi-Fi Rush, Dinkum, TERA, and My Little Puppy. With passionate and motivated teams around the world, KRAFTON is a technology-forward company with world-class development capabilities and is continually exploring new possibilities to improve the gameplay experience, including AI and other emerging technologies. For more information, please visit www.krafton.com.
About Crafton India
In India, KRAFTON is responsible for premier mobile games such as BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA (BGMI), Bullet Echo India, Road To Valor: Empires, and CookieRun India, which have over 250 million downloads. Committed to strengthening India’s startup ecosystem, KRAFTON has invested over $200 million in several Indian startups across interactive entertainment, gaming, esports and technology since 2021. KRAFTON actively supports the Indian game development ecosystem through the KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator.
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