The pace of artificial intelligence development is remarkable. Since the advent of ChatGPT, AI has become part of our daily lives. Amid this massive civilizational transition, the government is moving in earnest to build an "AI basic society" — one that overhauls systems so all citizens can enjoy the benefits of technological progress while safeguarding their fundamental rights. Just as illiteracy was once a major constraint on daily life, we now live in an era of the AI Divide, where not knowing AI is akin to being unable to read or do arithmetic.
To successfully advance toward an AI basic society, we must expand and reinterpret the constitutional concept of fundamental rights to fit the AI era — what amounts to "AI fundamental rights." This requires an approach across three key dimensions.
First is the right of universal access, ensuring no one is excluded from technology. AI adoption rates in our society currently vary by age and socioeconomic class. Vulnerable groups — low-income households, rural residents, and the elderly — face a particularly high risk of being left behind. Disparities in AI literacy and access go beyond mere daily inconvenience; they can trigger compounding crises including income polarization driven by gaps in workplace productivity. In the AI era, technology access must be established as a universal right to AI use, guaranteed as a basic citizen's right just as electricity and telecommunications were in the past. The government's initiative to provide tailored AI education for all citizens and develop inclusive AI technologies that anyone can easily access is timely.
Second is the right to protection and retraining in a changing labor market. The spread of AI technology tends not to affect the labor market uniformly but rather concentrates its impact on specific groups such as young workers and those in office and information-technology sectors. This is because AI possesses dual characteristics: "automation," which fully replaces human labor, and "augmentation," which complements human capabilities. This indicates that training systems must be fundamentally redesigned so that new job seekers entering the labor market and existing workers can acquire new skills. The state must step forward to ensure robust lifelong learning and vocational retraining systems that enable adaptation to shifting industrial structures — this must become a new pillar of basic labor rights.
Third is the right to safety from the adverse effects of technology. A genuine AI basic society must be premised not on unconditional adoption but on safe and trustworthy use. The advancement of AI technology has produced critical side effects, including the misuse of deepfakes and the spread of sophisticated disinformation. The revised Telecommunications Business Act, set to take effect in July, responds to these risks by strengthening platform operators' self-regulatory responsibilities and enabling punitive damages of up to five times the actual harm and administrative fines against malicious distributors. It is a safeguard for digital fundamental rights designed to protect the personal rights and property of others, as well as the public interest. We must actively demand the right to enjoy AI's utility while protecting individual dignity from social and ethical side effects.
An AI basic society is not merely about applying advanced information and communications technology to daily life. It is a social contract tailored to the vast digital environment — one that means building a social safety net ensuring all citizens can use AI as an everyday tool without being left behind, guaranteeing a sturdy ladder of retraining so no one falls behind amid technology's turbulent waves, and safely protecting lives and property from technology's adverse effects.
I hope the bold goal of becoming the world's best country at using AI does not become the exclusive preserve of a few. Only when inclusive technology and institutions for everyone move in step can AI truly blossom as a fundamental right for all 50 million citizens.