[Editorial] In the Rapidly Evolving AI Era, Revising Strategy Is Also a Form of Competitiveness

The government is reconsidering the management approach of its Domestic AI Foundation Model (Dokpamo) project. Baek Hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, recently commented on the results of the second Dokpamo evaluation, stating, "There are still areas needing improvement compared to the global standard," and added that it is time to reflect on whether the evaluation and competition model, established a year and a half ago, remains valid amid the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

If the government clings to the existing approach out of concern for policy failure criticism when the technological landscape has shifted, it will inevitably fall behind competitors who have changed direction. Adjusting strategy does not guarantee success, but reallocating objectives and resources in response to change is also a form of competitiveness. For example, Meta, a major American IT company, pivoted to 'AI agent (assistants)' after being regarded as falling behind in the generative AI race. The recent attention garnered by its personal AI agent 'Muse' demonstrates the results of this shift.

Korea's government-driven research and development (R&D) efforts were once criticized as "failure-free R&D" due to an astounding 99.5% project success rate. Focusing on low-risk research leaves little room for more ambitious projects. This is even more pronounced in the field of AI. Even when a specific model falls short of expectations, computing resources can be repurposed for other research, and development experience is retained. What matters is the value retained from failure, not the failure itself.

Policy adjustments must also be grounded in clear principles. Achievements and limitations should be disclosed transparently, along with clear explanations for what is being changed and why. Rather than preselecting certain teams or models as winners, opportunities should be expanded to frontier models, as well as to startups and individual developers. 'Openklo' also began as a project by an individual developer. Given that it is difficult to predict where innovation will come from, it is important to keep the doors of competition open.

In the era of AI, even failure can become an asset for the next challenge. Rather than hiding failures or sticking to existing policies, the government should learn from outcomes and quickly move on to the next decision. The government's role is to create a framework where various experiments compete and where policy can adapt quickly in response to technological shifts.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.