The National Assembly Broadcasting System (NATV) announced on the 5th that it will hold a discussion on the topic of 'Current Status of Korea's 'AI Industry' Amidst the Shock of DeepSec' on 'Jeong Gwan-yong's Policy Debate' at 10 PM on the 6th.
Recently, the artificial intelligence (AI) model of the Chinese startup 'DeepSeek', which boasts low cost and high performance, is causing a great shock around the world. Although the development and operating costs are much lower than those of the big tech companies in the United States, it shows similar performance to OpenAI's ChatGPT in advanced intellectual tasks such as mathematics, and there are also predictions that the competition for AI hegemony between the US and China may intensify.
According to the British Tortoise Media's '2024 Global AI Index', Korea's global AI capabilities are ranked 6th in the world, but it is failing in terms of operational environment and commercialization. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning stated that Korea has only 20,000 AI researchers, one-twentieth of China's, and even those are leaving the country.
The government, which aims to become one of the top three global AI powers, plans to quickly build infrastructure for the growth of the AI industry based on the 'Basic Act on the Promotion of Artificial Intelligence and Creation of a Trust Foundation' enacted in December 2024.
The Ministry of Science and ICT has decided to fully promote the construction of a national AI computing center worth 2 trillion won through public-private joint investment and improve regulations related to the construction of data centers.
The National Assembly has also begun preparing measures to strengthen the competitiveness of the AI industry. On the 31st of last month, the People Power Party held an emergency meeting of the 'AI 3 Major Powers Special Committee' and discussed the compilation of an additional budget (supplementary budget) related to AI. The Democratic Party of Korea's Science and Technology Special Committee announced at an emergency meeting on the 4th of this month that it would push for the compilation of an additional budget related to AI and other science and technology research and development (R&D).
At the State Council meeting scheduled for early next week, the ruling and opposition parties and the government are expected to discuss pending issues, including the Special Act on Semiconductors.
In this week's broadcast, ▲ Rep. Cha Ji-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea ▲ former Rep. Kim Kyung-jin of the People Power Party ▲ Professor Choi Kyung-jin of the Law Department of Gachon University ▲ Jaesik Choi of KAIST's Kim Jae-chul AI Graduate School will appear to diagnose the current state of the Korean AI industry and discuss ways to strengthen global competitiveness.
