A Policy Blueprint for Unlocking AI's Potential in South Korea

As a leading general-purpose technology, artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to accelerate digital trans¬formation across industries and exert widespread economic and social impacts. With AI now being rec¬ognized as a new driver of economic growth, governments worldwide are actively implementing policies to advance AI development and adoption. However, despite high expectations for and growing interest in AI, its adoption in South Korea remains limited, with the majority of businesses struggling to see tangible benefits. In order to leverage AI as a catalyst for growth in Korea, it is essential to establish a virtuous cycle between AI utilization and performance through both industry-specific and integrated policies. This paper describes the main characteristics and a set of policy priorities designed to facilitate AI adop¬tion in South Korea. They include: (1) strengthening demand-driven AI innovation capabilities to embed AI into industries; (2) expanding comprehensive financial support for AI-industry convergence; (3) improving AI workforce development systems and aligning human resources management with labor market needs; and (4) establishing a proactive risk management framework along with a “negative” regulatory approach to ensure businesses can freely leverage AI technology.