[Insight & Opinion] The Dream of Advanced Creative Research and Development Must Never Be Abandoned

Formation of Elite Teams and Large-Scale Investment
Belated Government Response to the AI Power Race
Do Not Exclude the Creative Role of the Private Sector

The National Artificial Intelligence Committee, startled by the deep-seated shock from China, has belatedly unveiled a grand blueprint. The plan is to develop world-class AI models, secure and nurture top-tier talent, and expand AI infrastructure to accelerate comprehensive ‘AI industrialization’ and a ‘national AI transformation.’ The ultimate goal is to rise as one of the ‘three AI superpowers’ alongside the United States and China. All efforts will be led and managed by the government’s Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Personal Information Protection Commission.

The ‘National AI Capability Enhancement Plan’ reported by the political scientist serving as the vice-chair of the National AI Committee is impressive. The government will select an ‘AI national representative elite team’ to act as a pursuing force against the AI hegemony held by the U.S. and China. Instead of evenly distributing computing resources such as data and GPUs, research funds, and talent, the plan is to concentrate intensive support on a small number of elite teams through the ‘World Best LLM (Large Language Model) Project.’ To secure future AI competitiveness, 1 trillion KRW will be invested in acquiring core foundational technologies for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

A ‘Global AI Challenge’ will be held to identify top-tier talent capable of solving challenging problems in the AI field, and the ‘Global AI Frontier Lab’?established last year by the Ministry of Science and ICT in collaboration with New York University?will be expanded to countries in Europe and beyond. The plan also includes nurturing emerging AI researchers domestically, establishing industry-academia cooperative AI transition graduate schools, and strengthening initiatives such as the Innovation Academy.

By the first half of next year, 18,000 high-performance GPUs will be secured for the National AI Computing Center and the 6th supercomputer. The demonstration of domestically produced AI semiconductors and LLMs will even be handled directly by the National AI Computing Center operated by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The government will take the lead in improving overall tax, electricity, and location-related systems to build the AI value chain, as well as expanding and opening high-quality public and private data necessary for AI training. Rigid personal information protection regulations will also be made more flexible.

Of course, there are tasks for the private sector as well. It is the responsibility of companies to spread innovative services utilizing government-developed AI models in domestic and international markets to secure demand and competitiveness. By 2027, the goal is to foster five global AI unicorn companies and 100 specialized manufacturing AI companies in the private sector.

The government cannot simply ignore artificial intelligence, which is emerging as a hot topic for the future. Large-scale investment is necessary, and rational improvements to regulations that hinder the emergence of unfamiliar technologies are essential. Although it is quite late, it is welcome that the government has taken an interest and prepared countermeasures.

However, the government cannot revert to the past where it tightly controlled everything due to the fear of an ‘interest cartel’ rooted in baseless distrust of the scientific community. Trust in the scientific community and businesses by the government is more important than anything else.

No one can be expected to have the exceptional ability to clearly identify the ‘K-NVIDIA’ and ‘K-OpenAI’ from their early stages with guaranteed success. The dream of ‘advanced creative research and development,’ which boldly accepts the uncertainties of private sector capabilities, must never be abandoned. The same applies to AI technologies where catching up with the U.S. and China is inevitable. We must not forget the nightmare of unreasonable ‘selection’ and excessive ‘concentration.’

Direct government investment in AI, which grows through private sector creativity, is absolutely undesirable. The reckless claim by an opposition party leader that artificial intelligence will take over tax and military service obligations is an absurd and inflammatory fallacy.

Lee Deok-hwan, Professor Emeritus at Sogang University, Chemistry and Science Communication