[Reporter’s Notebook] The Debate Over Slowing AI Development Is Now Someone Else’s Story Amid Korea’s Belated Strategic Pivot

The independent artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model project, ambitiously pushed forward by the Korean government, has reached a critical turning point. Various measures, including the establishment of a special purpose company (SPC), are being considered to develop a frontier-level (top-tier) AI model, but the specific direction has yet to be finalized.

The government is reviewing revisions to its existing foundation model strategy in order to develop a frontier-level model because the landscape of global AI hegemony is rapidly shifting. The performance of models released by global AI companies is improving at an accelerating pace, leading to growing predictions that the era of artificial general intelligence (AGI) may soon arrive. The recent calls within the global AI industry for a slowdown are also in line with these developments.

While global AI models are advancing so quickly that they are even capable of autonomous hacking beyond established safety guardrails, the reality facing the domestic industry is harsh. Korean companies participating in the foundation model project have produced AI models that have ranked on global AI performance indices, but the gap in scores remains significant compared to global frontier models, making it premature to even consider slowing down progress.

Given this situation, there is disappointment over the slow pace of decision-making. Last month, the government announced the results of the second evaluation of the foundation model project and indicated that it might change future evaluation and support methods, but the revised approach has not yet been released. Meanwhile, the gap with the two major AI powerhouses, the United States and China, is widening.

There is no room to slow down if Korea is to move beyond independent AI models and develop frontier-level models. Considering the massive capital and AI infrastructure resources being mobilized by the United States and China, swift development and strategic adjustments are essential just to narrow the gap. Even if the government were to pool all its infrastructure and budget support—such as GPUs—and combine the capabilities of industry, academia, and research, it would still not be enough to develop a single frontier AI model.

On September 16, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Baek Kyunghoon wrote on his social network, "We do not have the luxury of slowing the pace of AI now." As a latecomer in the race, Korea must maintain a tight grip on the reins in this AI speed competition, adopting rapid strategic pivots and executing with a sense of urgency to develop frontier-level AI models.

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