At the "Administrative AX Forum" held at the Westin Josun Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, on the 9th, public- and private-sector artificial intelligence (AI) experts agreed that to achieve a successful AX (AI transition), standardized criteria must be set and a step-by-step process followed. They said DX (digital transformation) is a prerequisite for AX.
Lee Sun-hee, head of the AI Statistics Innovation Division at the Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS), joined a panel discussion that day and said, "Twenty-nine institutions in Korea are running projects under the AX banner," adding, "As AX has become an issue, many are pushing mainly small projects that can produce quick results."
She went on, "For true AX, data construction must come first. If the data is not in place, no matter how many ideas there are, you cannot succeed with AI," adding, "Before AX, a pan-government data management system in line with DX principles is needed."
The head of Gureum BigValue said, "Both AI and AX require a great deal of adaptation," and emphasized, "Because the government is moving in an all-around way, including managing the overall system, if we proceed actively step by step, we can achieve good results."
Ryu Seung-in, Assistant Deputy Director at the Smart Information Division of Gwangjin District, also said, "We need to pay attention to DX, AX, and even organizational innovation together for a successful AX," adding, "Forming a network among AI managers to share what other local governments are doing and institutionalizing it within agencies and organizations must happen together."
There was also discussion on plans and direction for cultivating talent for AX transition in the public sector. Wi Ji-seong, head of the AI Innovation Team at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's AI Government Policy Division, said, "We aim to cultivate 20,000 AI champions," adding, "As the number of experts grows, we expect things to proceed quickly in various areas."
Ryu Geun-kwan, an emeritus professor in the Department of Economics at Seoul National University who chaired the session, said, "If we think about which is better between bottom-up and top-down for AX, top-down spreads faster and has consistency," adding, "Even if tens of thousands of people emerge as AI champions, there could be overlap, omissions, and a lack of consistency among them." He added, "We should not expect that creating thousands from the bottom up, one by one, will achieve AX nationwide."
There were also candid accounts of the practical difficulties civil servants face during the AX process. Assistant Deputy Director Ryu Seung-in said, "These days, we are agonizing a great deal. Externally, we are evaluated as having achieved administrative innovation using administrative AI, but in reality we have not changed how we work," adding, "We still devote enormous effort to making documents look nice. This is the reality for local civil servants."