The Korean government will develop physical artificial intelligence (AI) to assist elderly care at nursing facilities. For home-based care, "smart home" systems combining AI and Internet of Things (IoT) technology will be deployed to support the safety, health, and emotional well-being of elderly individuals living alone or with limited mobility.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the "AI Care Technology Full-Cycle Support Strategy" at the 7th Science and Technology Ministers' Meeting on Friday. The plan aims to address labor shortages and declining care quality in elderly care services amid Korea's super-aged society while establishing a foundation for future growth by securing demand for physical AI applications.
The care sector has traditionally been viewed as a welfare and service provision issue, placing it outside the priorities of science and technology policy that emphasizes industrial development and technological competitiveness. However, as labor shortages in care services have emerged as a social problem due to rapid aging, and as AI and robotics technologies have advanced to field-applicable levels, the care industry has now become a full-fledged science and technology policy agenda.
The strategy is built on three pillars: AI and IoT-based service innovation, field-demand-driven technology development and deployment, and legal and institutional improvements combined with workforce capacity building. For home-based care, smart home models will be introduced where various devices and equipment are integrated with AI. The goal is to enhance safety, health, and emotional support functions through 24-hour AI technology, compensating for limitations of services only being available during caregiver visits. This approach enables data-driven monitoring of users' health conditions and activity levels, allowing rapid response when abnormalities are detected.
Long-term care facilities will adopt "smart facility" models. AI will assist staff with repetitive documentation tasks, and "night rounding"—patrol checks to monitor residents' conditions during nighttime—will be partially replaced by AI and IoT-based monitoring. The aim is to analyze changes in users' conditions based on accumulated facility data to support more precise care and proactive responses.
Development of specialized physical AI for care settings such as nursing facilities will begin as early as 2028. Korea entered super-aged society status last year, but the aging of care workers themselves, including nursing care assistants, has exacerbated labor shortages. The average age of nursing care assistants is currently around 61, raising expectations that physical AI could help reduce the physical burden they face when caring for elderly residents and the associated safety risks. The government plans to validate technologies through living lab demonstrations at actual care sites and gradually expand those proven effective. Smart facility models will be applied sequentially.
Technology development will be pursued through a full-cycle system encompassing not just basic research but demonstration, commercialization, and policy integration. In the short term, the government plans to prioritize development of mature AI and IoT-centered technologies to produce field-applicable models within three years, then expand to physical AI combined with robotics. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will lead development of applied technologies for solving field problems, while MSIT will handle foundational technology development including data platforms.
The government will also pursue parallel improvements to major care systems including long-term care insurance and social service vouchers to ensure smooth adoption of these technologies. Legal foundations and ethical guidelines will be established so AI can be used with confidence in care settings, alongside training of field specialists and digital education for information-vulnerable populations. Following expert discussions and field hearings, the government plans to announce an "AI Welfare and Care Innovation Roadmap" containing detailed implementation plans within the first half of this year. The roadmap will include welfare administration innovation measures in addition to care technologies.
Deputy Prime Minister and MSIT Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said, "As aging accelerates, advancing care technology through AI and expanding infrastructure is a crucial task for realizing an AI-based society," adding, "We will actively cooperate so that relevant ministries can work together to lead this change."
