Korea's AI at the 'Bottom'... A Challenging Journey Toward Becoming an AI Powerhouse

Current Status of AI in Korea
Patent Share 17.4%
1 Top Kaggle Ranker
0 AI University Graduate Schools
0 Natural Language Processing Papers
27 AI Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] "000, tell me the weather"

This is a command that one might have given at least once through a smartphone or a voice recognition artificial intelligence (AI) speaker. It signifies that AI has deeply penetrated our lives. Going forward, AI is expected to become an indispensable companion in our lives as the Fourth Industrial Revolution accelerates with technologies like autonomous driving. So, how advanced is AI in South Korea?

According to the "2019 Survey on the Level of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in South Korea" report by the National Information Society Agency (NIA) on the 4th, South Korea's AI is significantly behind that of advanced countries. Although the government has set a 10-year national strategy to foster the AI ecosystem, the survey results suggest a challenging journey ahead.

AI Patents Rank 3rd

NIA analyzed and published South Korea's AI level based on a total of 23 indicators including patents, papers, corporate activities, and legal systems. When looking at each indicator, there was no field where South Korea leads.

However, South Korea ranked 3rd among seven comparison countries in the number of AI patent registrations and patent share. The number of AI patents ranked 3rd among the seven countries. Although the ranking is high, in terms of quantity, South Korea had 497 patents, which is about 36% of China’s 1,351 patents, which ranked 1st.

South Korea's patent share was also only 17.4%. China was 47.3%, followed by 23.7%, placing South Korea 3rd. In the three major AI technology fields?speech recognition, computer vision, and natural language processing?South Korea also ranked 3rd in the number of patents.

Only 26 AI Companies

South Korea's AI industry ecosystem is still in its infancy. The number of AI companies in South Korea was 26, the smallest among eight comparison countries. The United States, ranked 1st, had 2,028 companies, which is about 1.3% of the U.S. total. Japan (ranked 7th) was found to have as many as 40 AI companies.

However, South Korea ranked 2nd among the comparison countries with 465 AI startups. The United States, ranked 1st, had as many as 1,393 startups.

South Korea’s performance in the 'regulatory sandbox' for AI was also minimal. The UK resolved 29 cases, Japan 1 case, but South Korea registered 4 AI regulations in the regulatory sandbox as of last September.

Zero AI Universities and Graduate Schools

[Image source=Yonhap News]

South Korea’s foundation for nurturing AI specialists was also found to be weak. The combined number of AI universities and graduate schools ranked 5th, and the number of AI papers ranked 6th. Among the top 1,000 users in Kaggle, a globally renowned data analysis competition, only one Korean was included.

Moon Yong-sik, President of the National Information Society Agency, stated, "To compete with global talents and lower the threshold for learning and challenging in the AI field, it is necessary to expand participation in challenges focused on practical problem-solving." He added, "For the development of AI and the establishment of effective policies, an objective and comprehensive assessment of the AI field is important."

Is Data the Lifeblood of AI? ... No Data to Gauge AI Level

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In particular, NIA pointed out the lack of data to assess South Korea’s AI level during this survey. Although the government has repeatedly emphasized the importance of data to grow the AI industry, the absence of data to gauge South Korea’s AI level is highly significant.

NIA stated that AI indicators that reflect and measure South Korea’s unique characteristics are necessary, and that prior research and social discussions on the definitions and measurement methods of each indicator are required.

NIA said, "It was difficult to grasp the current status of the data needed to measure the AI field’s level, or measurement was impossible due to the absence of related data." They added, "We need to set target countries to catch up with and the ultimate goal (Top-Runner) for South Korea, and establish the direction for South Korea’s AI field."

Meanwhile, the government recently announced the 'AI National Strategy,' which includes 9 strategies across 3 major areas with 100 execution tasks, under the vision of "From an IT powerhouse to an AI powerhouse." The goal is to create an AI ecosystem over 10 years, achieving up to 455 trillion won in economic effects and reaching the world’s 10th level in quality of life.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.