The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has begun shifting its disease control system by using artificial intelligence (AI) through an AX·AI transformation.
The focus is on using AI for everything from infectious disease response to chronic disease management, quarantine, and countering misinformation, and a public-private consultative body to oversee this has also been launched.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said it held the first meeting of the Disease Control AX (AI transformation) Committee at Lotte Hotel Seoul on the 7th and began drawing up a mid- to long-term strategy for AI transformation in disease control.
The committee consists of 16 members, with Commissioner Lim Seung-gwan, head of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, as chairperson, five government commissioners, and 11 private and public experts in AI, big data, and health care. The committee will prepare a mid- to long-term disease control AX strategy to be applied from 2027 to 2031 and will discuss core tasks linking data, policy, and research and development (R&D), legal and institutional improvements, and step-by-step implementation plans.
The agency has internally operated a Disease Control AI Innovation Task Force and pursued pilot projects for AI-based public services.
Last year, four tasks—in infectious disease response, health management, quarantine, and infodemic (information epidemic)—were selected under the Ministry of Science and ICT's public AX project, and AI solutions are being developed. This is the largest number among the 20 total tasks. However, judging that projects centered on individual departments alone have limits in crafting an institution-wide comprehensive strategy, the agency created a Disease Control AI Office in March and has promoted the formulation of an AI transformation strategy.
The agency also plans to build the foundation for AI use step by step. With a target opening in 2029, it will build the Disease Data ON platform to standardize and integrate the management of diverse data, including infectious disease reports and investigations, national immunization, chronic diseases, and health risk factors. Through this, it aims to create a data environment suitable for AI use and link fragmented data across institutions to boost policy utility.
Under the public AX project, it is developing an infectious disease response AI assistant and an epidemiological investigation support system, a personalized health management service, an AI quarantine system for overseas travelers, and an infodemic response system that analyzes infectious disease misinformation and disinformation in real time.
Lim Seung-gwan, head of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said, "Combining the extensive disease control data we have accumulated with AI technology is a key asset for responding to future public health crises," and added, "We will break down data barriers between institutions and push a public health innovation that proactively protects people's daily lives from disease threats based on AI."