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South Korea Institutes An “AI For All” Policy
Take it, please // Illustration by Kate Walker
The South Korean government announced that it would give its citizens free, unlimited access to AI tools under a new “AI For All” initiative.
The Big Picture: South Koreans use AI a lot. Seoul reported that a quarter of the country’s population pays for generative AI tools, while 20 million residents use free versions. In comparison, only 2% of Americans pay for generative AI services. The problem is that, for all that usage, South Koreans primarily rely on either American or Chinese systems.
Behind The Rollout: South Korea is the first country to treat AI as a “public utility,” according to WSJ.
The country’s two largest telecom companies (KT Corporation and SK Telecom) and the operator of its most popular “everything app” (Kakao) will provide the AI tools.
Each will release a dedicated app for its AI services while also weaving AI features into its existing platforms.
The tools will also be directly linked to government services, allowing citizens to do things like “book doctor’s appointments, receive help with apartment hunting, or get tax advice.”
A beta test of the program will start in September, with a full rollout happening later this year.
Final Code: Seoul is determined to get more Koreans to use Korean systems for all their AI needs… and the government is putting its money where its mouth is. Seoul will underwrite the public’s use of tokens, which will be backed by 512 of Nvidia’s high-end B200 chips. The government hasn’t said exactly how much it expects the program to cost, but it has set aside $7.2 billion for “AI-related spending in 2026.”
The Future: Using country-specific AI systems could soon become a point of national pride, potentially creating some very interesting echo chambers.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.