South Korea is preparing to promote generative AI as a public service for all citizens. According to a plan disclosed by The Wall Street Journal, the government will provide advanced generative AI services to the entire population for free through the “AI for All” project, and integrate it with daily scenarios such as medical appointment scheduling, rental housing consultations, and tax inquiries.
Three local alliances undertake the services.
Seoul selected three technology alliances last Friday to implement the project, including two of South Korea's major telecommunications operators, as well as the company behind Kakao. Each alliance will launch independent applications and also embed AI functions into existing popular products. The official policy is not to limit the usage amount, and there is no set upper limit for token.
The South Korean government will also allocate up to 512 NVIDIA B200 chips to these three alliances and bear part of the operating costs. The Ministry of Science and Information Communications Technology of South Korea has not yet announced the total budget for the project. According to the plan, testing will begin in September, and full implementation is scheduled to be completed within the year.
The focus is placed on domestic models.
This plan is not only aimed at expanding the scope of use for AI, but also intends to reduce dependence on models from the United States and China. Currently, about two-thirds of South Korea's population has been exposed to AI, with approximately 23 million people frequently using generative tools, although most are still stuck on the free versions of overseas products.
According to the tender documents from the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology of South Korea, in April of this year, ChatGPT had approximately 23.45 million users in South Korea, Gemini had about 8.45 million users, and Claude had around 2.41 million users. In contrast, only about 1.8 million people nationwide paid for these related services.
To increase the usage rate of local models, South Korea has set clear requirements for operators: at least 50% of requests must be processed by certified Korean basic models, and another 30% must be handled by models developed by other Korean companies. This means that at least 80% of requests must go through the local model system. Overseas models can only be invoked when the authorities deem it necessary, and such usage is not eligible for subsidies.
AI will be integrated into government affairs and daily life scenarios
According to the current disclosures, the relevant services will be directly integrated into government systems. Examples of potential use cases include scheduling doctor appointments, querying rental information, and obtaining tax advice. Small and medium-sized enterprises can use these services to handle tax filings and check whether they meet the criteria for government support programs; parents may also receive recommendations for educational content suitable for their children.
In terms of policy efforts, South Korea is moving AI from being a corporate tool to a broader range of public infrastructure. The Lee Jae-myung government has reserved approximately 10 trillion Korean won (about 7.2 billion US dollars) for AI in 2026, which is about three times the amount of the previous year. This also indicates that South Korea aims to accelerate the adoption of local models and computing power systems while increasing their prevalence rate.
