South Korea’s new president should work with American tech giants to pursue a Stargate-like artificial intelligence partnership — as a matter of global security, according to a Korean tech executive.
After six months of political chaos and paralysis in South Korea, President Lee Jae-myung took over last week following snap elections, with ambitious plans for the country’s AI sector, including a 100 trillion won (nearly $74 billion) fund aimed at turning the country into one of the top three AI powers globally.
In an interview with Semafor, Jeff Kim, a leading AI figure in South Korea who helped advise Lee’s party on AI during the election through policy forums, detailed a roadmap for how he expects the new government could approach the sector.
Kim, the CEO of AI-powered travel platform Yanolja Cloud and a board member of the Korean AI-Software Association, said Lee wants to turn Korea into an “AI-driven state.”
“That means everyone should be using AI and everything should be made with AI,” Kim said, adding that a possible government-led AI service platform could allow companies to connect their tools. The new president has previously said he wants to appoint an AI policy chief and develop a “Korea-tailored ChatGPT,” which would be free to the public and could rapidly generate data.
Yanolja Cloud CEO Jeff Kim. Courtesy/Yanolja