AI Development in South Korea - 2023

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The US media often gets caught up in self-centered narratives, but we firmly believe that learning about global AI affairs, cultural nuances, and political variations can benefit us and our readers a lot.

In today's edition, Byoungchan (Ben) Eum presents an in-depth historical analysis of AI in South Korea, coupled with key highlights from Generative AI events in 2023. Pay special attention to our takeaways and conclusions to stay well-informed. South Korea has demonstrated remarkable tech-savviness; observing trends in this country could provide crucial insights.

Introduction

The match between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol 9th Dan in March 2016 (officially named the ‘Google DeepMind Challenge Match’) could perhaps be counted as one of the first notable events in the history of artificial intelligence in South Korea. To the citizens of a country intimately familiar with the game of Go, this event was an emotional roller coaster that started with 'confidence' and 'curiosity' and ended in 'shock' and 'confusion'. Following the dramatic 4:1 conclusion of this historic AI-versus-human Go match, media, experts, and the press competed to share their opinions on the meaning of the match. Thereafter, 'artificial intelligence' became a national agenda, deeply ingrained in the minds of Koreans as a 'new technology' with the potential to change the world.

If that match could be compared to the 'First Impact' from the famous anime 'Evangelion,' then the shock to the Korean market and industry brought about by the generative AI services led by ChatGPT, released by OpenAI on November 30, 2022, could be described as a 'Second Impact’ which surpassed the former in both quantitative and qualitative aspects. ChatGPT, which attracted a million users in less than a week of its launch, quickly spread its influence in Korea. A survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in March 2023 showed that one in three Koreans had used ChatGPT at least once. As of April 2023, there were already 2.2 million users in Korea according to OpenAI's data. Not only did the stock prices of companies related to generative AI services soar, but major corporations and startups alike have developed and launched various generative AI services within the year. The government has also recognized the significance and importance of generative AI technology, declaring a project for the 'AI routinization for the entire population' and planning and investing in a budget to establish a foundation for nurturing hyper-scale AI.

In 2024, the investment and interest of stakeholders in the Korean market for generative AI are expected to deepen and expand further. Most importantly, AI, which was a national agenda but could only be a proprietary technology of some major corporations, giant tech firms, and a few startups, has come closer to everyone in the form of ‘services not as 'technologies'.

Read the article further on our website -> https://www.turingpost.com/p/korea2023