Korea's effort to cultivate future-oriented artificial intelligence (AI) talent is being hampered by an outdated education system. According to a Seoul Economic Daily report on Wednesday, Seoul National University (SNU) applied to the Ministry of Education for an enrollment expansion to create a new "Convergence AI" track with 100 students under its College of Liberal Studies, but the request was rejected in mid-last month. SNU had envisioned a plan to admit students without a declared major in line with the AI transformation (AX) era, teaching them AI alongside various disciplines to nurture convergence-type AI talent. However, the Ministry of Education reportedly told the university that the plan ran counter to policy goals and instructed it to instead expand enrollment in advanced AI and semiconductor departments. Critics say this illustrates the realities of higher education, which is constrained by a rigid university enrollment system and curriculum and dependent on government budgets.
We now live in the AX era, where national competitiveness hinges more on the ability to integrate AI with industry than on AI technology itself. Beyond simple coding education, new value must be created through AI based on integrated knowledge. A uniform approach to education cannot keep pace with rapidly shifting AI industry trends. This is why the Ministry of Science and ICT is also emphasizing the cultivation of high-level talent to respond to advanced AI technology development and industrial demand. The Ministry of Education, by contrast, is focusing its policy on universal AI education and balanced regional development. With major countries engaged in unlimited competition to nurture AX talent, there is growing concern that Korea could miss the golden window of opportunity. Korea not only produces an insufficient number of AI professionals each year, but also ranks among the top major countries in the net outflow of AI talent per 10,000 people.
The government must develop an integrated AI talent cultivation strategy through organic cooperation among ministries. It is also important to equip citizens with basic AI literacy throughout their life cycle. Above all, the most urgent task is to achieve qualitative advancement of the workforce in this era of the AI hegemony race. The United States is accelerating AX talent development in partnership with universities and companies, and China presented a strategy for cultivating AI convergence talent at the higher education level as early as 2018. To nurture top-tier AI talent, Korea must broadly guarantee university autonomy and tear down the barriers between departments within universities. While the country champions becoming one of the "top three AI powers," it is time to reconsider whether outdated regulations are actually holding it back.
