Public Sector Should Lead AX to Foster Private Sector Confidence
Provide Financial Incentives to Companies Utilizing AI
Strengthen Budget Authority of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee
The Lee Jaemyung administration has presented the vision of making South Korea one of the world's top three powers in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), following the United States and China. In the National Assembly, there have been recommendations to strengthen the status of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee as a control tower for the government's AI development policies, and to establish market-driven demand creation policies.
National Assembly think tanks, including the National Assembly Research Service, have analyzed the current state of AI-related government organizations following the government restructuring that took effect on October 1, and stated, "This can be summarized as strengthening the overall coordination function of the control tower and the executive function of the relevant ministries." President Lee Jaemyung has positioned AI as a key to economic competitiveness and has restructured the organization by creating the position of Chief of AI Future Planning within the Presidential Office to spearhead AI policies. Additionally, President Lee has taken on the role of chairperson of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee himself to directly oversee major policy coordination, and the Ministry of Science and ICT, which has been elevated to the level of Deputy Prime Minister, has been clearly designated as the lead ministry for AI.
The National Assembly Research Service, comparing the current government structure with cases from other countries, stated, "It is necessary to consider strengthening the budget authority of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee beyond just policy coordination." To this end, it proposed, "It would be worth actively considering granting the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee a separate authority to provide opinions on budget allocation and adjustment in the fields of AI development and commercialization."
In addition, the National Assembly Research Service, through its report 'Ambidextrous Strategy for Advancing to the Top Three Global AI Powers,' recommended that, beyond investment and supply strategies, a demand strategy should also be established.
While strategies such as creating sandboxes and forming clusters are necessary, it also suggested that the public sector should take the lead in attempting AX (AI transformation) to encourage the private sector to take on challenges with confidence. At the same time, it is necessary to provide financial incentives to private sector demand-side adopters of AI. For example, the government could support companies' AI utilization costs, or become involved in covering AX costs for industries such as manufacturing.
Furthermore, it proposed strengthening the AI infrastructure base. This includes expanding infrastructure such as data centers and power grids in preparation for the expansion of AI data centers, establishing a value system through social consensus on the technical limitations of AI by involving diverse fields such as technology, ethics, law, and the humanities, and strengthening international cooperation to build a large AI ecosystem with countries such as France, Central Asia, and ASEAN nations to overcome the limitations of the domestic market.
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