Expressing Commitment to Focus Budget Investment on AI Through New Year's Address
Minister Yoo Sang-im of the Ministry of Science and ICT is delivering a congratulatory speech at the "2024 Asia AI Awards Ceremony" held on the 19th at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung
Yoo Sang-im, Minister of Science and ICT, expressed a strong commitment to rapidly securing key assets such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to leap forward to AI G3, and to focusing budget investments on AI computing infrastructure, outstanding talent, and technology development.
In his New Year's address on the 1st, Minister Yoo mentioned this policy, emphasizing, "Artificial intelligence is an essential asset that determines the future of the nation, and to become a global advanced country, we must invest now."
Minister Yoo mentioned AI first in the direction of next year's work outlined in his New Year's address. This choice reflects the importance of AI. It also suggests a significant shift from the previous policy direction under former Minister Lee Jong-ho, which focused on fostering independent AI through AI semiconductor development.
Minister Yoo plans to "proactively revise regulations that restrict private investment in AI and fully expand investment incentives such as tax benefits." This also indicates a plan to expand private funding for large-scale GPU acquisition, which is insufficient with government budgets alone. Major U.S. big tech companies are competing to secure hundreds of thousands of the latest GPUs by mobilizing massive funds.
He also pledged, "I will do my best to make the Republic of Korea not only a powerhouse in information and communications but also a powerhouse in artificial intelligence."
Minister Yoo also stated that he will work hard to establish a leading R&D system and nurture talent, aiming to expand investment in leading R&D?such as national strategic technologies and innovative and challenging R&D, which strive to be the world's first and best?to about 35% of government R&D by 2027.
Furthermore, he plans to put global cooperation projects such as the Boston Korea Project and the Global AI Frontier Lab on track, allocate the largest-ever budget for basic research to support creative and pioneering studies, and provide more research opportunities to young researchers.
Minister Yoo said, "We will expand AI and digital competency education so that the younger generation can create new businesses and gain employment opportunities in the AI and digital fields."
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