The Blue House said on the 10th that President Lee Jae-myung, in an interview with the British business outlet the Economist, said a new mechanism such as "basic income" is needed to distribute part of the "excess profits" from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom to the public, adding, "This is not a reference to any particular corporations or issue."
The Blue House, in a media notice that day, said, "The president's Economist interview was about a task of the times that we may someday face to sustain and maintain the capitalist market order amid a great transition to the AI era," and offered that explanation.
Earlier, in the Economist interview released that day, Lee said we should consider ways to distribute part of the excess profits of corporations generated by the AI boom to ordinary people, and that new mechanisms such as "basic income payments" are needed for that. He also said that, to promote balanced regional development, the government is encouraging semiconductor corporations to build supply chains in the provinces, adding that pushing the transfer of the presidential office is likewise part of an attempt at balanced regional development.
At a press conference on the 8th marking his first year in office, Lee said of the question of socially distributing the "excess profits" of semiconductor corporations, "It is quite a contentious issue and an agenda item that could have very serious effects on national industrial policy," adding, "It is not something to be settled by debating only within Korea; it will soon become a common agenda item around the world." He also said, "Even before that stage, we should be cautious in debating how to handle excess profits."