The "Basic Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and the Establishment of Trust" (hereinafter referred to as the AI Basic Act) has been passed in the National Assembly. The enactment of the AI Basic Act makes it the second in the world after the European Union (EU).
According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, the AI Basic Act has been discussed for over four years since it was proposed in July 2020, collecting various opinions. The 22nd National Assembly merged 19 bills after reaching an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties and passed it in the plenary session today after undergoing the Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee and the Legal Affairs Committee. The law will take effect starting January 2026.
According to the AI Basic Act, the Minister of Science and ICT can establish and implement a national AI basic plan to enhance national AI competitiveness every three years by collecting opinions from relevant ministries and local governments (Article 6). It also establishes a legal basis for the operation of the National AI Committee, which was launched in September, (Article 7) and sets a basis for the operation of the AI Safety Research Institute as a specialized organization to protect the lives, bodies, and properties of citizens from risks related to artificial intelligence (Article 12).
To foster the artificial intelligence industry, it has established a basis for government support for R&D (Article 13), standardization (Article 14), the establishment of policies for learning data (Article 15), and support for the introduction and utilization of AI (Article 16). Additionally, it aimed to support innovative development in South Korea's AI ecosystem through the designation of AI clusters (Article 23), promotion of AI data center policies (Article 25), and facilitation of AI convergence (Article 19), while also stipulating measures to secure AI professionals (Article 21), special support for small and medium enterprises (Article 17), and revitalization of startups (Article 18) to foster talent for leading the AI era.
To preemptively prevent issues that may arise from the technical limitations and misuse of artificial intelligence, the law defines high-impact AI and generative AI as regulatory subjects, and stipulates obligations for ensuring transparency (Article 31), ensuring safety (Article 32), and obligations of operators (Article 34). Furthermore, it has established a basis for government support for voluntary safety and reliability verification by the private sector (Article 30) and AI impact assessments (Article 35).
The "AI Basic Act" is scheduled to take effect from January 2026 after a one-year waiting period following the approval and proclamation by the Cabinet. The government plans to expedite follow-up measures, such as preparing subordinate regulations and guidelines, to ensure that the law swiftly takes root in the market.
Minister Yoo Sang-im said, "I find the passage of the AI Basic Act, which will be the foundation for strengthening national AI competitiveness, very significant," adding that, "Through the enactment of the AI Basic Act amid fierce global competition surrounding artificial intelligence, we have established an important milestone that will enable our country to genuinely leap into being an AI G3 powerhouse by alleviating uncertainties for corporations and promoting large-scale investments from the public and private sectors."
On this day, the National Assembly also passed the "Digital Inclusion Act." The core of this act is to impose an obligation on corporations to provide ease of use so that anyone can easily use kiosks (self-service information terminals). It also includes measures to conduct digital inclusion impact assessments on new government services and products during the digital policy formulation process to prevent digital discrimination and exclusion in the public sector in advance. This law is also set to take effect from January 2026.