Lee Jin-soo, the Director of AI Policy Planning at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated on September 3 at the 2026 Good Growth Global Forum (GGGF) hosted by Aju Economy that "AI is becoming a security asset and an economic strategy asset," emphasizing the need to secure independent AI models and accelerate the 'AI Triad' strategy based on three mega projects.
During his lecture on the direction of South Korea's AI policy, Lee referenced comments made by Demis Hassabis during his visit to South Korea in April, highlighting the rapid pace of the AI revolution.
"The current AI revolution is progressing at a scale and speed more than ten times that of the past industrial revolution," Lee said. He added, "When Eric Schmidt mentioned that AI would reshape national security and economic hegemony, it seemed a bit far-fetched, but it is starting to resonate now."
Lee identified Anthropic's frontier model 'Mythos' as a turning point, explaining that the debate over the necessity of sovereign AI has concluded following the U.S. controlling this event.
Regarding South Korea's position in the global AI market, Lee expressed confidence that the country ranks third, following the U.S. and China. He noted, "The number of notable AI models is 60 in the U.S., 35 in China, and 8 in South Korea, while Canada, France, and Singapore have only one each." He added, "The top scores for models are 63 and 60 for the U.S. and China, respectively, with our recent independent foundation model scoring 47. We are clearly in the top three."
However, he acknowledged limitations, stating, "The global AI computing power is nearly 90% controlled by the U.S. and China," and noted that the lack of sufficient B2C services often leads to reliance on foreign models.
Lee outlined that the policy will start with three mega projects, announcing plans for significant investments in what he described as the brain (semiconductors), heart (AI data centers), and body (physical AI). He stated, "The AI data center will reach 8.4GW by 2029 and 18.4GW by 2035. The special law enforcement decree will be implemented by March next year."
On physical AI, he remarked, "While LLMs have learned almost all existing data, there is a lack of realistic data for physical AI in various scenarios such as rain, snow, and human presence. We need to create a lot of synthetic data."
Lee also emphasized that independent models have moved into the service stage. He mentioned, "We are creating models, but they are not yet available to the public." He noted that last week, three consortia, including SK, Kakao, and KT, were selected, with beta services expected by late September or October, and full public access by December. He added, "The government and private sector are planning to invest more boldly in GPUs, data, and talent to challenge the global top-tier frontier models."
In response to concerns about the concentration of power among large corporations, he stated, "In addition to the main contractor, each consortium includes between 20 and 30 startups as participating companies." He pointed out, "Only China, Russia, and South Korea have domestic portals, and Naver's success is not due to better performance than Google, but because it resonates with Korean users. I believe that the public AI will also produce explosive services that touch the lives of Koreans."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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