President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during the launching ceremony and first meeting of the presidential committee on artificial intelligence held at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul on Sept. 26, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday the government and the private sector will join hands to make full-scale efforts to boost South Korea’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to expand its presence in the global AI sector.
Yoon set a target for South Korea to become one of the world’s top three AI leaders during a launching ceremony of the Presidential AI Committee tasked with establishing the strategy and blueprint for the cutting-edge technology.
“It is a time when AI determines national capabilities and economic growth, becoming a key factor in the economy and security,” Yoon said. “The world’s major nations are staking everything on securing AI technology and leadership to win the digital supremacy competition.”
Yoon said the new committee, consisting of 30 experts, senior government officials and presidential aides, will coordinate AI research and development efforts and lay out visions to strengthen the nation’s position in the global AI scene.
“We will establish a national AI computing center through private-government investment and to drive the AI transformation across industries and society, encouraging further private sector investment in AI,” he said.
He also committed bold reforms in intellectual property regulations and private protections to ensure they safeguard core values without becoming obstacles to innovation, and vowed to establish strategies on R&D, infrastructure and legal frameworks.
In April, the government launched the AI-Semiconductor Initiative, which included plans to invest 9.4 trillion won (US$6.9 billion) in AI and AI chips by 2027 and create a 1.4 trillion-won fund to help the growth of AI chip companies.
South Korea and the United States have also formed an AI working group and launched a global AI frontier lab for joint research and development between the two countries.
(Yonhap)
