The government has decided to establish a dedicated organization, the 'National AI Service Innovation Promotion Team,' to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) across administrative tasks and develop and operate government-wide AI services. This initiative, modeled after the UK's Government Digital Service (GDS), will be under the Ministry of Science and ICT and aims to transform the public sector and implement 'smart administration' in the age of AI.
With the president's active direction, the government is quickly preparing legal grounds (Prime Minister's directive) and is expected to launch the team in September, raising high expectations that it will serve as a key engine for the government's AI transformation.
Public software projects have long suffered from chronic issues, including unreasonable task changes, rigid budget structures, and conflicts between contractors and clients, often failing to meet user experience (UX) and quality standards.
In this context, the government's move to internalize development capabilities and manage infrastructure and security strategies is seen as a positive direction. If the government can break free from bureaucratic constraints and adopt the agile development culture of the private sector, it could significantly enhance administrative efficiency and broaden the scope of service innovation that citizens can experience.
However, the success of national policies hinges not on grand ideals or flashy plans but on 'realistic implementability.' Concerns arise when examining the crucial link of 'talent acquisition' in the team's proposal. The government plans to appoint a private sector expert as the team leader and hire fewer than 100 private developers as term civil servants.
The challenge lies in the fierce competition for talent in the current AI and software market. Salaries for skilled AI developers and engineers at major tech firms, advanced AI research labs, and promising startups have skyrocketed. Even with salaries in the hundreds of thousands and attractive benefits like stock options and flexible work environments, finding qualified talent is extremely difficult.
Given this market ecosystem, it is questionable whether the public sector, with its civil servant salary structure and term positions, can attract 100 outstanding private developers.
If compensation and salary levels fall significantly short of market standards, the risk is high that the organization will either be overlooked by top talent or filled with less experienced personnel. This could lead to a decline in the quality of public AI innovation, potentially resulting in the organization becoming a 'shiny but empty shell' rather than a successful public tech entity like the UK's GDS.
The foundation of policy is to acknowledge market principles, the principle is appropriate resource allocation, and common sense is to correctly understand human motivations. For the national decision to establish a dedicated organization aimed at advancing AI to bear solid fruit, it must not be confined to the framework of term civil servant hiring.
Introducing flexible work arrangements and compensation systems comparable to the private sector, as well as actively opening up flexible collaboration systems and specialized secondment programs with private IT companies, is essential.
As the government faces the pressing challenge of public AI innovation, how it will overcome the harsh reality of 'attracting AI talent' remains to be seen. There is hope that the government will recognize the practical limitations of personnel recruitment before the team's launch and propose bolder and more flexible alternatives.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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