Bang Seungchan, Director of ETRI, Announces Recruitment of Leading Scholar as AI Safety Research Institute Director to Launch Within the Year
Regulatory Relaxation for Public Research Institutes Opens Path to Talent Acquisition
Bang Seung-chan, President of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) of Korea, who is pushing for the launch of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Research Institute this year, hinted at the possibility of recruiting Ha Jung-woo, Head of the Naver Cloud AI Innovation Center.
At a press conference on the 27th, President Bang said, "Generative AI technology is rapidly advancing, but the risks of AI are also increasing, so it is a time when autonomous efforts by the private sector and the role of the government are needed to ensure safety," adding, "Center Head Ha Jung-woo is also a candidate for the AI Safety Research Institute director."
President Bang’s specific mention of Center Head Ha is considered symbolic, given that the salary cap has been removed. This statement came after the salary cap for researchers at government-funded research institutes was effectively eliminated. According to the ‘Measures to Promote the Dynamism of the R&D Ecosystem and Knowledge Fluidity in Science and Technology Government-Funded Research Institutes’ announced on the 26th, government-funded research institutes can now use technology royalties they earn independently for personnel expenses. ETRI is the biggest beneficiary of this policy improvement. Over the past three years, ETRI’s technology royalty income has reached 101.2 billion KRW. It has established at least the minimum foundation to pay salaries higher than that of President Bang and to invite an AI Safety Research Institute director.
To recruit private-sector talent, government-funded research institutes must guarantee salaries at the level of private company executives. President Bang said, "Considering the status of the country’s only AI Safety Research Institute and the responsibility of handling national-level tasks, it is a position that even top talents would covet," adding, "Thanks to the improvement plan for government-funded research institutes confirmed by the Ministry of Science and ICT, a path has opened to attract the best scholars as AI Research Institute directors."
According to Naver’s 2023 business report, CEO Choi Soo-yeon received a salary of 600 million KRW last year, excluding bonuses. This is twice the salary of the Director of the Institute for Basic Science, who is one of the highest-paid heads of government-funded research institutes, with a salary of 300 million KRW.
The AI Safety Research Institute is a follow-up to the ‘Seoul Declaration’ at the AI Seoul Summit held in June. On the first day of the summit’s main session, President Yoon Suk-yeol personally declared the promotion of the establishment of the AI Safety Research Institute, and Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT announced the plan to establish the AI Safety Research Institute within ETRI, making the establishment more concrete. The AI Safety Research Institute plans to conduct national-level research to develop technologies that address growing issues such as AI hallucinations, misuse, and risks arising from the expansion of AI autonomy. It is scheduled to be located in Pangyo, Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, separately from ETRI’s main headquarters in the Daedeok Complex, Daejeon.
In his keynote speech at the conference held on the 26th and 27th under the theme ‘Coexisting with Artificial Intelligence,’ President Bang said, "There is an increasing observation that AI will surpass humans within five years." This was interpreted to mean that since AI could develop to a level that threatens humans, research to manage AI must be conducted as soon as possible.
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