National AI Strategy Committee Hosts Seminar on AI Development Regulation

The National AI Strategy Committee is holding a seminar on the topic of 'AI development regulation' to explore South Korea's response strategies.

On October 1, the committee announced the seminar, which was organized in light of the 'regulation of development speed' proposed by OpenAI and Anthropic on September 12, aimed at addressing the country's response to this issue.

The event will see participation from over 70 attendees, including members of the Security Special Committee, officials from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Personal Information Protection Commission, and relevant organizations such as the AI Safety Research Institute. The seminar will also be streamed live online.

The first part of the seminar will feature expert presentations to assess the current domestic and international landscape. The keynote address will be delivered by the committee chair, focusing on 'Global Frontier AI Development Regulation and South Korea's Response Strategy.'

Choi Dae-sun, head of the AI Safety Research Center at Soongsil University, will discuss the risks and controls associated with AI development, emphasizing the need for both technical and institutional responses. He argues that existing regulations are insufficient to manage the risks posed by rapidly expanding and unpredictable frontier AI.

Kim Sung-hoon, CEO of Upstage, will present on 'Why Upstage Solar is Powered by Electricity,' analyzing how domestic regulation could entrench the technological gap with global big tech companies and deepen dependency.

Lee Han-wool, vice president of Aim Intelligence, will introduce South Korea's AI security capabilities and the realities faced by companies, suggesting that independent model evaluation and control capabilities must be developed alongside international cooperation.

In the second part, discussions will take place with the presenters from the first part, along with Kim Myung-joo, head of the AI Safety Research Institute, and Kim Dong-hwan, CEO of 42maru, on the implementation direction of speed responsibility, support measures for securing domestic AI competitiveness, advanced AI risk assessment and control, and the establishment of safety verification systems.

Hah Jung-woo, the newly appointed vice chair of the National AI Strategy Committee, stated, "While there are various concerns and mixed domestic and international discourses surrounding the recent regulation of AI development speed, securing an 'irreplaceable global AI core supply chain' and 'advancing to the top three in AI' necessitates the acquisition of safe frontier AI capabilities, which is not an option but a requirement. In times of upheaval, we must unite public and private capabilities to move toward our goals."