The Ministry of Science and ICT, the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Committee, and the Mega AI Promotion Council held a meeting on the 6th in the National AI Committee conference room in Jung-gu, Seoul, to assess the competitiveness of the domestic AI industry.
Attendees included Vice Minister Kang Do-hyeon of the Ministry of Science and ICT, members of the National AI Committee such as Cho Jun-hee, president of the Korea Software Industry Association, Bae Kyung-hoon, head of LG's AI Research Institute, Kim Doo-hyun, a professor in the Department of Computer Engineering at Kookmin University, and Shin Yong-sik, vice president of SK Telecom. Other industry representatives included Kim Yoo-won, CEO of Naver Cloud, Oh Seung-pil, chief technology officer (CTO) of KT, Kim Byung-hak, vice president of Kakao, Kim Sung-hoon, CEO of Upstage, and Cho Gang-won, CEO of More.
Jeong Hye-dong, project manager at the Institute of Information and Communications Planning and Evaluation (IITP), which is responsible for planning AI research and development (R&D) in South Korea, explained the key features and implications of DeepSeek AI, as well as the competitiveness of the domestic AI industry. Jeong noted, "The DeepSeek case has given expectations that the limitations of the cost curve (neural scaling law) needed for AI model training and operation can be overcome with research and development," and emphasized that fierce competition to lead AI technology would intensify, as China's Alibaba announced 'Qwen 2.5-Max' at the end of last month, outperforming DeepSeek V3.
He stated that "each country's AI model develops specialized to its own interests, language, and culture, and that our independent AI model is an essential asset strategy," and emphasized the need to focus not only on computing power and research and development but also on nurturing talent and data that constitute the AI ecosystem to develop 'sovereign AI'.
After the presentation, participants shared insights on the competitiveness and strengths of domestic AI technology, discussing the necessary requirements for strengthening national AI competitiveness. They noted that our corporations possess sufficient potential to challenge the global AI market, stating that the recent achievements of DeepSeek could act as both a crisis and an opportunity for South Korean companies.
They suggested the need for the government's continuous efforts to create an ecosystem in various aspects including infrastructure investment, research and development, and workforce training, to enable AI corporations to exert their capabilities.
Vice Minister Kang stated, "If the public and private sectors unite to create an AI innovation ecosystem, I am confident that we can write a success story even amid fierce global competition," adding that they will expedite the establishment of the national AI computing center and discuss detailed strategies for leapfrogging into the top three AI nations at the upcoming National AI Committee meeting this month.