AI Talent Now Key to National Competitiveness, Yet Korea Ranks Only Around 30th in Attractiveness, "Japan and the U.K. Should Be Benchmarks"

AI Talent Outflow Continues to Widen
"Japan and the U.K. Offer Lessons... Latecomers Also Show Potential"

AI illustration. The Asia Business Daily DB

As the artificial intelligence (AI) sector has become a decisive factor for a nation's economic competitiveness, a new study has found that Korea's attractiveness for talent recruitment remains only in the 30th range globally. Korea is a net talent outflow country, with more people leaving than entering, and analysts say it should draw lessons from net inflow countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and China by improving its system of practical rewards and its research environment.

According to Yonhap News on the 16th, a report titled "Analysis of AI Talent Development and Recruitment Policies in Major Countries" in the monthly webzine "Software-Centric Society" published by the Software Policy and Research Institute evaluated Korea's talent recruitment attractiveness as remaining in the 30th to 40th range worldwide even in the 2020s.

Although this index is not limited to the AI sector and instead measures the inflow and outflow of highly skilled workers across all fields, it suggests that even when applied to AI talent, it will not be easy for Korea to enter the top tier in a short period of time.

According to last year's "AI Index" report by the Human-Centered AI Institute (HAI) at Stanford University in the United States, which analyzes AI talent mobility, Korea's AI talent mobility index for 2024 stood at -0.36 (a net outflow of 0.36 people per 100,000), meaning the outflow widened from -0.30 in 2023.

The report noted that the government has recently been stepping on the accelerator to "court" top AI talent, for example by deciding at the Foreigners Policy Committee, jointly held by relevant ministries last year, to attract world-class talent to support advanced industries such as AI.

The report diagnosed that "Korea is focusing on university-centered domestic talent development policies, but the size of its pool of highly skilled master's and doctoral-level talent is still smaller than that of leading countries, and it is relatively weak in attracting, bringing back, and utilizing overseas talent, as well as in global cooperation."

"The U.K. and Japan should be benchmarks... Latecomers can also turn into net inflow countries"

The report pointed to the United Kingdom and Japan, which maintain the status of net AI talent inflow countries, as potential role models.

The United Kingdom has maintained a stable status as a net AI talent inflow country by striving to attract overseas AI talent after Brexit through a variety of visa schemes, including the Global Talent Visa, the High Potential Individual (HPI) Visa for graduates of top-ranked universities worldwide, and the Scale-up Visa.

Japan, a latecomer in AI talent development, was a net AI talent outflow country like Korea until 2019, but shifted to a net inflow country in 2020 with an index of 0.69.

Japan is working not only to attract overseas talent but also to encourage outstanding Japanese scientists abroad to return home by introducing the Japan System for Special Highly Skilled Professionals (J-Skip), promoting mutual AI study-abroad programs with the European Union (EU), and expanding the list of partner countries.

The report said that Korea should establish an exceptional compensation system for highly skilled master's and doctoral-level talent, create innovative research clusters, and provide a stable living environment for foreign talent. At the same time, it should activate remote collaboration and talent networks so that top AI professionals at home and abroad can contribute to domestic industries even without physically relocating.