Ruling and Opposition United by DeepSeek Shock... 'AI Public Hearing' to be Held on the 25th

Traffic Control Amid Flood of AI Countermeasures: STIBC Public Hearing
Numerous AI Challenges Including GPU Shortages and Talent Gaps
Ruling and Opposition Parties, Government, and Companies Join Forces

After the emergence of China's 'DeepSeek,' South Korea, a latecomer in artificial intelligence (AI), has seen a flood of countermeasures, prompting the ruling and opposition parties, government, and companies to come together to hold a public hearing on AI policies to organize the situation. According to the IT industry on the 13th, the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee (STIBC) will convene on the 25th at 2 p.m. for a joint session of ruling and opposition parties to gather opinions on the direction of domestic AI development.

An IT industry official said, "Big tech companies and governments in the US, Europe, and China are competing for global AI leadership, but in South Korea, the National Assembly, government, and local governments are competitively rushing to create AI agendas, causing confusion," adding, "This will be a place where the ruling and opposition parties, government, and companies all participate to listen to opinions and prioritize laws and policies." Another political insider also said, "The discussions at this meeting could be reflected in the enforcement decree of the AI Basic Act."

Last year, the AI Basic Act passed the National Assembly and is scheduled to be enforced in January 2026, but the enforcement decree has not yet been prepared. At the end of last month, the generative AI 'R1' released by the Chinese startup 'DeepSeek' caused a stir in the industry as a low-cost, high-performance model, leading to calls for full-scale investment and concrete measures to develop the domestic AI industry urgently.

The public hearing is expected to focus on ways to catch up with advanced AI technologies. Since computing infrastructure, including high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs), is essential for AI research and development (R&D), investment measures in AI computing, including GPU purchases, are expected to be prepared. As concerns about the shortage of domestic AI talent arise, solutions to address this issue are also likely to be discussed.