Aiming to Become One of the World's Top Three AI Powers
Seoul is stepping up as a 'Global AI (Artificial Intelligence) Innovation Leading City.' The city plans to nurture 10,000 talents annually and expand the hub supporting AI startups to 10 times its current size to create an 'AI Tech City.'
On the morning of the 11th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced seven core strategic tasks containing these plans at 'AI SEOUL 2025' held at COEX, Seoul. Referring to 'DeepSeek,' which shocked the world at the beginning of the new year, Mayor Oh said, "I saw hope in this case that we can leap to become one of the top three AI powers. We must now reorganize everything around AI."
The city will support the AI industry in various ways, including talent, infrastructure, and investment. It will nurture 10,000 AI talents annually, including 4,000 from the Youth Employment Academy and 6,000 university talents, and establish scholarships totaling about 600 million KRW for master's programs in AI and other STEM fields.
In the Yangjae AI Innovation District, a 'Seoul AI Tech City' with a total floor area of 270,000㎡ will be built. This is 10 times the size of the AI hub opened in May last year. It will be a mixed-use space of 'work, residence, and leisure' equipped with domestic and international graduate schools, research institutes, cultural and residential spaces, with construction targeted to start in 2028.
Additionally, aggressive investments will begin this year, including establishing an AI fund worth 500 billion KRW. Infrastructure support essential for AI technology development, such as GPUs, will also be expanded. Mayor Oh said, "Korea's AI investment is far behind leading countries; currently, private investment is only about 2% of that in the U.S. The public sector must support AI-based research and applied research projects through aggressive investment."
Moreover, through cooperation with global big tech companies, the city will support domestic AI companies' entry into overseas markets and promote convergence with Seoul's four future core industries: bio, robotics, fintech, and other strategic industries. To popularize AI, 'Seoul AI Festa' will be held in March, and 'Smart Life Week (SLW) 2025' in October. To serve as an AI control tower, the Seoul Digital Foundation will be reorganized into the Seoul AI Foundation.
After the vision announcement, Mayor Oh held a special dialogue on AI technology with Jerry Kaplan, a professor at Stanford University and author of 'Humans Are Obsolete' and 'The Future of Artificial Intelligence.' Professor Kaplan also delivered a keynote speech titled 'Generative AI: Present and Future.' He emphasized that AI is not an attempt to replicate human intelligence but an advancement in automation, and that technological improvements and adaptations will be necessary over the coming years during the practical application of generative AI.
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