"AI for Everyone to Be 'Good Enough to Use Without a Paid Version'"

Ryu Jemyung, Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT
During a National Assembly Budget and Accounts Committee hearing
Budget and Accounts Committee Chair Lee Kwangjae: "Large national plans must be carefully reviewed"

The government said it aims to make the “AI for Everyone” service “good enough for people to use without feeling the need to pay for a premium version.”

On Monday, during a ministry-by-ministry budget review by the National Assembly’s Budget and Accounts Committee, Ryu Je-myeong, Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT, said, “AI for Everyone is scheduled to be released by the end of the year using the foundation models we are developing ourselves.” The project will use domestically developed AI models to provide the public with a general-purpose AI chatbot and public-sector AI agents free of charge. The government aims to launch the service by the end of this year.

Lee Kwang-jae, chair of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, declares the opening of a full committee meeting on the 9th. Yonhap News Agency

Lee Kwang-jae, chair of the National Assembly’s Budget and Accounts Committee and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, asked about AI for Everyone’s competitiveness. Vice Minister Ryu said, “There are standards used in global benchmarking. Rather than being designed to compete one-on-one with top-tier services such as Astra, a top-tier service model from ChatGPT, we plan to offer a service that people can use effectively without feeling the need to pay for a premium version, and through which public services can use AI on this platform. We will be evaluated on those aspects.” In other words, the plan is to provide an AI service for everyday activities and public services, rather than one focused on achieving the highest possible performance.

In this connection, Lee said, “When NASA first began its lunar project, 50% of the American public did not support it. When they heard that 4% of the federal budget would be devoted to it, there was considerable opposition in Congress. But the project’s outcome helped create a new America.” He added, “I hope that the larger the national plan, the more thoroughly it is developed, and that the issues raised by the National Assembly Budget Office and others are carefully reviewed so there are no setbacks.”

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