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Korea Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
[Rumman Chowdhury] Sovereign AI: A new frontier of national ambition
Should AI be a public good, shaped by local values, or a technology controlled by a handful of geographically-limited tech giants? The rise of 'sovereign AI' -- locally developed, government-backed artificial intelligence systems -- reflects a world wrestling with the urgent questions of power, autonomy, and identity in the digital age. This push is not merely about technological prowess; it is a response to deep geopolitical anxieties, economic ambitions, and cultural imperatives. The geopolitical landscape is shifting rapidly. The US-China rivalry over AI supremacy has made clear that technology is now a front line in global power struggles. Smaller countries, wary of becoming pawns in this contest, are investing heavily in their own AI capabilities. Brazil and India, for example, have collectively committed billions to build sovereign AI infrastructures, fearing that reliance on foreign technology could compromise their security and autonomy. Across Southeast Asia and the Middle East, national strategies increasingly prioritize AI sovereignty, not just to keep pace with global powers, but to avoid being left behind in a world embroiled in an AI arms race. Other Asian nations have emerged as major players in sovereign AI, with some viewing them as a 'buffer' between global hegemonic powers China and US. South Korea is aggressively pursuing sovereign AI to establish technological autonomy and cultural relevance, anchored by a landmark $735 billion investment pledge from President Lee Jae Myung. This strategy centers on developing domestically tailored AI systems trained on Korean language data and historical context, moving beyond reliance on foreign platforms. Key architect Ha Jung-woo, appointed as the nation's first Chief Secretary for AI Future Strategy, advocates for "sovereign AI that has learned from Korea's culture and history," prioritizing infrastructure like 5,000+ GPUs for selected "national AI champions". Crucial to this vision is the SK Group-Amazon Web Services partnership building South Korea's largest AI data center in Ulsan, alongside legislative foundations like the AI Basic Act (effective January 2026). As the EU's peer in comprehensive AI regulation, this law establishes governance for "high-impact" AI systems while promoting public-private collaboration. Importantly, government-supported AI projects will be open-sourced for broad societal use. The initiative targets strategic sectors like semiconductors and biotechnology, aligning with national goals to rank among the world's top three AI powers by 2030. This includes expanding GPU capacity 15-fold and achieving 70% industrial AI adoption. Security dimensions are addressed through the National AI Security Consultative Group, though the AI Basic Act explicitly excludes military applications from its scope. While open-source frameworks and regional coalitions offer pragmatic pathways, South Korea's sovereign AI ambitions remain a high-stakes gamble balancing cultural preservation against technical and economic constraints. Structural challenges persist -- limited Korean-language datasets, GPU procurement hurdles, and dependence on foreign infrastructure threaten scalability. For all sovereign AI developers, the economic stakes are enormous. AI is projected to add trillions to the global economy by the end of the decade. Nations like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are pouring resources into local AI ecosystems, determined to capture this value for themselves rather than see it flow to Silicon Valley or Shenzhen. The message is clear: countries want to be creators, not just consumers, of the AI revolution. This lesson was hard-learned from the early days of the internet, which was dominated by Silicon-Valley based search engines, shopping websites, and social media platforms. Local leaders now seek to foster homegrown talent, build domestic industries, and ensure that the economic benefits of AI accrue to their own citizens. Culturally, the need for sovereign AI is even more urgent. Most of the world's leading AI models are trained on English-language data, leaving non-English speakers, and their unique cultural contexts, at a disadvantage. Indonesia's massive Bahasa-speaking population and Saudi Arabia's Arabic-first models are early examples of how countries are tailoring AI to their own languages and traditions. These efforts are not just about better translation or customer service; they are about ensuring that AI reflects and respects local values, histories, and identities. But building truly sovereign AI is no small feat. It requires not just advanced algorithms, but also robust data infrastructure, massive computing power, local talent and effective governance. The European Union's Gaia-X and India's Bhashini initiative are pioneering efforts to create secure, locally controlled data environments. Denmark is investing in domestic supercomputers, while Singapore and Taiwan are developing their own large language models. In addition, many nations are capitalizing on the Trump administration's purge of scientific talent to draw talent away from the United States. These projects are ambitious, but they are also fraught with complexities. The technical and economic hurdles are formidable. Training a state-of-the-art AI model can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. This price tag is prohibitive for most nations. Maintaining sovereign AI infrastructure is often more expensive than relying on global cloud providers. And while some countries, like Japan, are pursuing hybrid models that combine local development with international partnerships, others risk creating 'AI islands' isolated from global innovation. Critics note Malaysia's sovereign AI delivers 2.3x slower performance than global counterparts despite heavy investment, highlighting viability concerns. Ethically, government ownership of AI raises a host of thorny questions. On one hand, public control could ensure that AI serves the common good, free from the profit motives and opaque algorithms of private corporations. On the other hand, it raises the specter of state surveillance and censorship. China's Social Credit System, Hungary's illegal public monitoring of LGBTQ+ allies and the UAE's use of AI to monitor government communications are cautionary tales of how sovereign AI can be weaponized for social control. There are also concerns about bias: nationally curated datasets may reflect the biases of majority populations, leaving marginalized groups behind. In addition, these models may serve as tools for propaganda by current political parties -- similar to how Elon Musk has publicly declared his intent to influence Grok, his AI model. The path forward is not clear-cut. Absolute AI sovereignty may be an illusion in an interconnected world, but so is complete dependence on foreign technology. Some countries are exploring regional coalitions, like ASEAN's shared AI cloud, or open-source collaborations that balance local needs with global innovation. France, for example, is focusing on sector-specific sovereignty in healthcare, while Indonesia is building on open-source frameworks to create models that are both locally relevant and globally compatible. Ultimately, the quest for sovereign AI is about more than technology. It is a reflection of a world in flux, where nations are reasserting their identities and interests in the face of rapid change. The challenge is to strike a balance between autonomy and collaboration, innovation and control, national ambition and global responsibility. In the end, the most successful countries may be those that can navigate this delicate equilibrium, building AI systems that are both locally rooted and globally connected.
![[Yoo Choon-sik] Uncertainty rises as AI law decrees miss schedule](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F07%2F06%2Fnews-p.v1.20250706.6242a3149f1140fbb7a84430839a0c1d_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Korea Herald
6 days ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
[Yoo Choon-sik] Uncertainty rises as AI law decrees miss schedule
South Korea has missed its self-imposed deadline of June 30 to disclose draft versions of enforcement decrees and rules for its basic artificial intelligence law. The National Assembly overwhelmingly passed the AI Basic Act — officially the Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of Foundation for Trust — in late December 2024. It took markets around the world by surprise, given that the country was quickly slipping into one of the worst political turmoils in years after then-President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed attempt to impose martial law triggered widespread unrest. The subsequent promulgation of the law by the Cabinet Council in January this year also came as a surprise, given that the government was being run by an acting president. The Ministry of Science and ICT said at that time that it would disclose draft versions of enforcement decrees and rules by the end of June for public comment so that they could be finalized early enough for companies and users alike to prepare for the January 2026 implementation of the law and ensure smoother compliance. On the surface, the delay is understandable, given that President Lee Jae Myung, who is just over a month into his tenure, has yet to get his administration completely into shape. Lee started work without the usual transition period because the election was held to fill the presidency vacated by the forced removal of Yoon by the Constitutional Court after his impeachment a few months earlier. However, companies are growing nervous as the period of darkness is extended regarding the subordinate legislation process, because they have to prepare strategies for what will emerge as one of the region's major markets for AI business opportunities, with limited clarity and time to act accordingly. The delay also comes amid complaints among many stakeholders within and outside South Korea that the country, while enacting the law later than the European Union, will be the first jurisdiction in the world to implement regulatory obligations. The EU is not due to enforce its provisions until several months after South Korea shows its hand. For instance, while South Korea's AI Basic Law is set to take effect in late January 2026, most regulatory provisions of the EU AI Act — such as those on high-risk systems, general-purpose models, governance, penalties and national authorities — are due to take effect from August 2026 in multiple steps, with staggered deadlines. By the time South Korea's government and National Assembly hurriedly passed the law in late 2024, policymakers and industry experts alike thought having the law in place would help the country's AI companies doing business in major markets, where they expected authorities to introduce tough regulations. However, earlier this year, the global AI policy landscape took a dramatic turn toward prioritizing the development of AI innovation, especially since the announcement by DeepSeek and other Chinese developers of the successful development of world-class AI systems. Major countries including the United States, Britain, Canada and Germany have recently taken bold steps to foster AI development, with some of them explicitly shifting their policy stance away from regulation. This change in the global landscape has raised concerns that South Korea may have moved too hastily, locking itself into a regulatory-first approach. Uncertainty is worse than anything These concerns even led to the then-opposition Democratic Party of Korea — now the ruling party — proposing a revision bill in April to suspend regulatory provisions for three years, emphasizing that 'the AI-related trends in the US, the EU, and Japan, have been shifting away from regulation toward promotion and industry growth.' There is no indication of the revision bill proceeding swiftly, with the leader of the proposing lawmakers acknowledging that the revision may not be approved quickly, according to media reports. However, these concerns apparently have prompted the Ministry of Science and ICT to seek ways to effectively delay full implementation of the bill's obligations to avoid stifling innovation. '(The ministry) is considering introducing a grace period on the provision imposing fines for some time after the enforcement of the law so that there will be an effect similar to a delay in the regulatory measure,' the ministry recently told President Lee's state affairs planning committee, according to media reports published recently. The ministry was referring to Article 43 of the law, stipulating that the Minister of Science and ICT could levy a fine of up to 30 million won ($22,000) for those in violation of obligations listed in Articles 31, 36, and 40. However, the same article delegates further details to a presidential decree, allowing flexibility in enforcement. The planning team has been receiving briefings from the outgoing government's ministries, so this plan may still change when the new minister takes office. Bae Kyung-hoon, head of LG AI Research, was nominated to be the first minister of science and ICT under the Lee administration, but has yet to take office after confirmation hearings held last month. All issues related to subordinate legislation also remain highly uncertain because Lee has yet to unveil how to implement his election pledges, including one to revamp the Presidential Committee on AI — launched in late 2024 by his predecessor to review and coordinate AI policy issues but inactive for several months, mainly due to the political turmoil of that period. It remains to be seen how many of the tentative plans prepared by the outgoing government will be upheld by the Lee administration and how soon South Korea will clear the remaining uncertainty regarding some conflicting regulatory obligations between different laws and guidelines, experts said. In stark contrast to the heightened uncertainty continuing, there is one thing that everyone agrees always makes sense: Uncertainty is worse than anything for the business world as well as for the investor sentiment toward South Korea, especially in the fast-moving domain of artificial intelligence. Yoo Choon-sik worked for nearly 30 years at Reuters, including as the chief Korea economics correspondent, and briefly worked as a business strategy consultant. The views expressed here are the writer's own. — Ed.
