The Small Business Agency is making various efforts to establish artificial intelligence (AI) services that small businesses can truly benefit from.
On September 29, the agency held a discussion at its headquarters in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, to review the current status and future direction of its AI services.
This meeting was attended by In Tae-yeon, the agency's president, and AI practitioners, who assessed the ongoing AI projects and explored ways to implement AI services that small businesses can feel in their operations.
As AI emerges as a key technology influencing the competitiveness and sustainability of small businesses, the agency has been promoting the 'AI Compass' project to enhance understanding of AI under the leadership of its president.
On August 13, the agency launched the 'Intelligent Information Committee' and held its first meeting. This committee was established to respond to changes in AI, data, and digital technologies, and to coordinate, review, and advise on medium- to long-term intelligent information policies and AI transition tasks across the organization.
From July 27 to August 13, the agency conducted six sessions over 8.5 hours covering topics such as AI discourse, AI infrastructure, AI operating principles, AI services, AI implementation strategies, and AI policies and future trends.
This initiative aimed to go beyond simple concept acquisition to examine essential aspects needed for the introduction and operation of AI in public institutions, including AI judgment and learning principles, necessary data, model selection, and result verification and management.
Based on this learning, the agency has also developed an 'AI Project Checklist' to systematically review its AI initiatives.
The checklist consists of five items: purpose suitability, management appropriateness, procedural completeness, AI model suitability, and AI model performance evaluation.
During the discussion, participants focused on reviewing the current status and key issues of the agency's AI support projects for small businesses based on the checklist. They also addressed challenges faced by practitioners in the project implementation process and discussed structural solutions to these issues.
Moving forward, the agency plans to operate AI services safely based on the 'Human-in-the-Loop' technique, which emphasizes human verification and supplementation of AI results, and the 'Zero Trust' principle, which stresses continuous verification.
In Tae-yeon, the agency's president, stated, "The introduction of AI is much more about establishing a verification and management system for the problems we aim to solve and the results we seek than simply using new technology. We will continue to communicate with practitioners to alleviate on-site difficulties and support small businesses in experiencing tangible changes through AI."
Meanwhile, the agency's Busan-Ulsan regional headquarters signed a memorandum of understanding with Dong-eui University on September 17 to collaborate on training programs aimed at enhancing AI capabilities for local small businesses.
The two organizations will jointly promote initiatives such as co-planning AI training for small business owners and traditional market merchants, assisting in recruiting trainees, providing tiered AI training for agency staff, and linking existing management improvement support programs.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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