SEOUL (Reuters) – OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Friday that he will meet with President Yoon Seok-yeol and about 100 local startups as South Korea seeks to boost domestic competitiveness in artificial intelligence. I plan to.
After crisscrossing Europe last month, meeting with lawmakers and national leaders to discuss the prospects and threats of AI, Altman has been visiting Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, India and South Korea all week. .
South Korea is one of the few countries that has developed its own underlying model of artificial intelligence in a field dominated by the US and China, thanks to local tech companies such as Naver, Kakao and LG.
Companies are looking for ways to tap into niches or specialty markets not yet addressed by big tech companies in the US and China.
The Financial Times reported in May, citing Naver executives, that Naver was keen to develop localized AI applications for politically sensitive countries in the Middle East and non-English speaking countries such as Spain and Mexico. Stated.
Since Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI launched ChatGPT last year, the rapid development and popularity of generative AI has spurred legislators around the world to enact legislation to address safety concerns related to the technology. ing.
While the European Union is working on an AI bill due to pass later this year, the United States is leaning toward adapting existing legislation to AI rather than enacting entirely new legislation.
South Korea has new AI regulations awaiting full parliamentary approval that are seen as less restrictive than those in the EU.
In February, a congressional committee passed an AI bill that guarantees the freedom to release AI products and services, restricting them only when regulators deem them harming people’s lives, safety or rights.
South Korea’s Ministry of Science, Information and Communications announced plans in April to focus on boosting AI development in the region, including measures to provide datasets for training hyperscale AI, while continuing discussions on AI ethics and regulations. bottom.
(Edited by Joyce Lee, Reporter Hee Kyung Yang, and Deepa Babington)
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