Korea Aims to Develop Top-10 Global AI Model

The South Korean government has set a goal to develop a homegrown artificial intelligence foundation model that ranks among the world's top 10.

Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, announced at a briefing held at the Government Sejong Convention Center in Sejong City on Monday that "we will accelerate our leap to become one of the world's top three AI powers next year and deliver results that citizens can feel."

"We will develop an indigenous AI model that ranks within the global top 10 next year and provide it as open source to businesses and academia," Bae said.

The government plans to develop AI services specialized for various sectors including defense, manufacturing, and culture, alongside general-purpose AI models. "Through a nationwide AI competition in March next year, we will help all citizens use AI effectively and support commercialization and startup ideas," the minister said.

Regarding recent successive hacking incidents, Bae added that "we will establish a strict accountability system for companies, including imposing punitive fines on repeat offenders of security breaches." He also stated that "the government will further strengthen its cybersecurity capabilities and wage an all-out war against hacking on behalf of the public."