Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Baek Kyung-hun stated that South Korea cannot afford to slow down its artificial intelligence (AI) development amid recent discussions among global AI companies about regulating the pace of model development.
On his social media account, Baek emphasized, "It is a completely different issue for a leading country to adjust its speed compared to a country that must catch up and create new markets."
Recently, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have argued for a slowdown in AI development due to the risks associated with frontier models. In response, Baek acknowledged the need to seriously consider these risks but stressed that South Korea should not slow down its technological development.
He noted the importance of expanding technology beyond large language models (LLMs) to include visual language models (VLMs) and visual language action models (VLAMs) that can understand and act in real-world industrial settings. He stated, "We must prepare for an era where AI is deeply integrated into all industries and the daily lives of citizens."
Baek also warned that the ability to secure frontier AI capabilities, which are close to artificial general intelligence (AGI), could widen the gap between nations. He pointed out that this capability could influence not only technological strength but also industrial competitiveness, economy, and national security, ultimately affecting the future competitiveness of the country.
He emphasized the need to accelerate the pace of ensuring safety and trust alongside AI development. This includes establishing technical and institutional safeguards to address challenges such as deepfakes, cybersecurity, privacy protection, and job changes.
Baek stated, "We must boldly accelerate AI research and development and industrial application while ensuring that we have effective brakes in place for risks. Speed is competitiveness, and safety is sustainability; therefore, we cannot choose one over the other." He added that he would soon inform the public about the next steps for the independent AI foundation model project and the direction of South Korea's frontier AI model development, asserting, "We will not slow down South Korea's AI clock but will move faster and more safely."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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