President Lee Jae Myung on Dec. 12 speaks at a briefing on the 2026 business plans of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Personal Information Protection Commission at the Government Sejong Convention Center in Sejong. (Office of the President)

By Kim Hyelin

The Ministry of Science and ICT next year will seek to boost the competitiveness of a national model based on general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) using domestic know-how to the ranks of the world's top 10, initiating a full-scale transformation into an AI-based nation encompassing governance, industry and daily life.

The ministry on Dec. 12 said this in presenting its 2026 business plan at a session attended by President Lee Jae Myung at the Government Sejong Convention Center in Sejong, calling 2026 "the turning point in Korea's jump toward becoming one of the world's top three AI powers" and producing outcomes tangible to the public.

Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyunghoon said, "We will secure a proprietary AI basis model and release it as an open source to make it freely available to business and academia."

The plan is to develop a general-purpose AI model and offer related services customized for sectors like defense, manufacturing and culture to disseminate the use of AI across industries and the public sector.

Higher public investment in infrastructure will go toward bolstering national AI competitiveness through procuring 37,000 graphics processing units and six supercomputers to meet AI demand from research and development (R&D) and industrial sites. The training of AI specialists will come through an AI-focused university and graduate school and the launch of a scale-up fund for AI startups worth KRW 3 trillion by 2030 to support business growth.

National participatory programs will seek to promote wider AI usage. In March, a national AI competition will allow anyone like students, the public and experts to propose any idea based on AI. The top submissions will receive support for R&D, commercial use and startups, and a conducive educational environment for AI will be created by expanding AI learning online and offline education venues.

Stronger cyber security and data protection are also major tasks. Companies guilty of repeated security incidents will face fines and a strict system of corporate accountability will clearly stipulate the security responsibility of a CEO.

A proposed system to detect AI-based threats will also advance the government's capacity to counter hacking.

kimhyelin211@korea.kr