"There would be no major issue if a replacement with a sense for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry and technical knowledge on par with Senior Secretary Ha Jung-woo were appointed immediately to steady the center, but if the senior secretary for AI future planning is left vacant, the national AI policy will not be carried out properly. In the end, it inevitably raises doubts about the sincerity of making AI a core state task." (Lee Kyung-jun, Kyunghee University professor of business administration)
"The senior secretary for AI future planning is different from positions like senior secretary for political affairs, senior secretary for civil affairs, or senior secretary for the economy, which have relatively more interchangeable specialists. It is not easy to find an AI expert with both expertise and an industrial feel. With Vice Prime Minister Bae Kyung-hoon in place, things may be manageable to a degree, but it is hard to say there will be no hit to the national AI strategy." (AI expert A)
Former Blue House senior secretary for AI future planning Ha Jung-woo was a close aide whom President Lee Jae-myung trusted so much that he would casually call him "HaGPT" ("Ha Jung-woo + ChatGPT"). Together with Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon, he was both the twin engine and the symbol of national AI policy. However, after just 10 months, Ha, one of the key leaders of AI policy, declared a run for office and stepped away from the AI policy ranks.
Experts say it will not be easy to find someone who can both replace former Senior Secretary Ha and lead policy continuity with AI expertise. In the industry, there is talk that "if the vacancy in the senior secretary for AI future planning is prolonged, disruptions to AI policy are inevitable." Professor Lee Kyung-jun expressed concern that "in the end, experts will set the table, and the announced AI policies could become an unguarded field used for political purposes."
The industry is already full of concern over former Senior Secretary Ha's departure. To reach the government of Lee Jae-myung's goal of becoming one of the top three AI powers, coordination with Vice Prime Minister Bae is crucial, but it is hard to find the right person. Seemingly mindful of this, on the 9th, President Lee discouraged former Senior Secretary Ha, who was being floated for a by-election draft, saying, "There is a lot to do. You should not switch just because an offer comes in." A government official B said, "The current national AI initiative is led by Vice Prime Minister Bae with former Senior Secretary Ha advising," adding, "We expected (his entry into politics), but it came too soon."
Since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration, the biggest achievement in the AI institutional sector so far has been securing 260,000 units of Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs), the core components for AI development, and expanding budgets, infrastructure, and organizations. But there is still a long way to go. Korea's AI technological prowess remains at the research paper level. According to Stanford University's AI Index, Korea ranked third after the United States and China in the number of notable AI models, but it is hard to see this as an outcome.
Most Korean citizens use foreign AI services. According to Internet Trend, as of the 26th of this month, the AI platform most used by the public over the past month was ChatGPT (40.49%). It was followed by Gemini (32.68%), Perplexity (17.07%), and Claude (7.32%). In April last year, when he was a presidential candidate, President Lee Jae-myung said he would push the "AI for all" project so that "everyone can use AI at an advanced country level for free," mentioning a Korea-style ChatGPT. But it is still hard to find a fully mature homegrown AI model.
Some say the national team AI model contest, which dreamed of a "Korea-style ChatGPT," was unrealistic from the start. In the industry, there is also the reaction that "the national team AI project ended up being used as an election-career builder." A senior executive in the business community said, "ChatGPT and Gemini are fighting day by day to survive, and no one thinks an AI model to rival them will appear immediately," adding, "We are focused on concrete areas for national AI advancement, like computing power and data centers, rather than (unrealistic goals)."
An executive at a company participating in the national team AI model project said, "Providing GPUs can be a big help not only to large corporations but also to academia and startups," but noted, "It is true that time is taking longer because the government is focusing on the originality of (AI models)." The executive added, "We are participating because we think placing first or second in the national team AI model contest would have great promotional value, but even if we are selected as a final model, we do not know what and how the government will do with it." Another industry official said, "The government is so engrossed in AI models that it is neglecting to establish measures for power, infrastructure, and data centers."