A nationwide artificial intelligence (AI) competition open to participants ranging from elementary school children to senior citizens will run from April through November.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) held an opening ceremony on Saturday at EL Tower in Yangjae, Seoul, officially kicking off the "National AI Competition" for AI accessible to all. The competition aims to spread AI adoption across Korean society by enabling anyone from students to seniors to participate. As AI spreads faster through hands-on experience rather than formal education, the event focuses on giving citizens a sense of achievement by solving problems with AI.
The competition targets more than 2 million participants. It is organized into separate tracks based on participants' goals and skill levels: the general public, elementary through high school students (future talent), university students and researchers (professional applications), and vulnerable groups (daily life innovation).
The general public track features events designed to help citizens feel comfortable with AI, including AI quiz competitions, use-case contests, and error-finding challenges that anyone can enter. For elementary, middle, and high school students, an AI creative contest involving AI-generated artwork and fairy tales will be held alongside a robotics challenge linked to robot experience education, providing opportunities for proper AI use and career exploration. University students and researchers can compete in the AI Rookie and AI Champion competitions, where they develop AI technologies and services using their academic expertise. Additionally, an AI Edu-thon for pre-service teachers, an AI Innovation Challenge for public institutions, a defense AI competition for military personnel, and a defense AI idea contest will also take place. Seniors, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups can participate in the National Happiness AI Competition, which measures basic AI skills such as information searching. For unemployed youth and career-experienced women, the Reboot AI Competition offers AI training followed by hands-on project creation to strengthen their AI capabilities.
Outstanding participants identified through the competition will be offered employment and startup opportunities through government programs run by MSIT, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and other agencies. In particular, the competition's best ideas and outcomes will be linked to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' "Startup for All" project to support participants in turning their ideas into actual businesses.