In the AI Index 2026 released by Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), the number of Korea's "notable AI models" is expected to be revised from five to eight.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said on the 23rd that, after confirming that some domestic models were missing in the report released on the 13th and requesting further review, the number of Korean models will be corrected to eight.
Accordingly, based on models released last year, Korea will maintain third place after the United States with 50 and China with 30. The corrections will include Upstage's "Solar Open 100B," LG AI Research Institute's "K-EXAONE," "EXAONE 4.0 (32B)," "EXAONE PASS 2.0," "EXAONE Deep (32B)," NC AI's "Bae-ki," SK Telecom's "A.X K1," and Naver Cloud's "HyperCLOVA X Seed 32B Sync." Of these, five are the results of the government's independent AI foundation model project.
Behind this revision is the report's counting method. The AI Index aggregates the number of models by country based on the "Notable Models" databases of the nonprofit research institute Epoch AI, and it was reported that eight Korean models had already been listed in that DB.
Stanford has acknowledged the possibility of such omissions. The AI Index has said that because it hand-selects "notable models" based on technical impact, historical significance, and high citation counts, some countries' models may be left out.
The correction is interpreted as showing that the actual breadth of Korea's AI ecosystem was wider than previously released and, at the same time, as a case indicating that Korean corporations are gaining a larger presence in global AI benchmarks.