Ministry of the Interior and Safety Holds Private ChatGPT Advisory Meeting
Considers Delegating Internal Report Drafts to AI
Enhancing Efficiency to Reduce Unnecessary Workload
Need to Address Security Risks and Strengthen Domestic Companies' Capabilities
The government is intensively reviewing a plan to entrust the drafting of internal reports by public officials to artificial intelligence (AI). This follows President Yoon Seok-yeol's urging to find ways to utilize AI technologies such as ChatGPT in the public sector. However, since legislative procedures and security issues are intertwined, it is expected to take some time before actual implementation.
According to government officials on the 28th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) held a closed-door "ChatGPT-related expert advisory meeting" on the 16th to discuss how AI technology can be used in the public sector. At the meeting, there was a heated discussion on how public officials can use AI when drafting reports and what constraints exist for its introduction.
The plan the government sought advice on from experts that day is a system where AI initially drafts only the internal documents exchanged among public officials. Before formulating policies, public officials collect materials such as domestic and international trends, technology and legal cases, side effects, alternatives, and expert opinions for reporting. These materials are accumulated in each ministry not only as official documents but also as memos and attachments. By processing this data and training AI with it, the system can automatically create draft reports tailored to the desired topics.
The MOIS expects the system to significantly improve work processing speed. Internally, the public sector has long identified "internal reporting" as a major cause of inefficiency. This is because the volume of data to be referenced is vast, the drafting formats are complicated, and the reporting process is complex. However, if AI drafts the initial version and the responsible staff only need to revise and supplement it, the workload can be reduced.
A government official preparing related work explained, "Since document drafting accounts for the largest part of what public officials do, we sought experts' opinions. If a draft written by a human is considered 100%, this meeting was to explore the possibility of how much AI can produce."
Security Risks Must Be Resolved and Domestic Companies' Technological Capabilities Guaranteed
The MOIS's push to introduce AI technology is driven by President Yoon's directive. At the New Year's work briefing in January, President Yoon said, "I had ChatGPT write the presidential New Year's address once, and it was really excellent." He also emphasized, "I hope the MOIS will lead well so that our public officials can utilize ChatGPT effectively, not wasting time on unnecessary tasks, and focus their energy on creating services truly needed by the people."
However, there are significant practical difficulties in introducing AI immediately. Public officials use separate internal and external networks for security. All internal work, except for public-facing tasks, is conducted on a strictly secured internal network. Under the current security system, the only way to draft reports is to grant AI companies access rights, but allowing private companies to view the internal network raises concerns about security breaches such as national secrets leakage.
The technological capability of domestic AI companies must also be guaranteed. Most AI programs currently discussed are services created by foreign companies. The government is looking for domestic companies aiming to develop the AI industry, but none yet provide functions comparable to ChatGPT. It is also unclear whether domestic companies are willing to offer similar services. No private companies attended the meeting that day.
Nevertheless, the MOIS is proceeding with additional work to enhance the use of ChatGPT. Already, about 100 MOIS-affiliated public officials are using the free version of ChatGPT for work, and the ministry plans to complete pilot use within the first half of the year and release guidelines on how to utilize it in work. On the 24th, a consultation meeting was held with about 200 intelligence information officers from central administrative agencies and local governments, where they attended a lecture titled "Exploring Various Applications and Limitations of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
