Seoul City Official Documents to Be 'AI Standardized'... AI to Analyze and Expand

Seoul Unveils Digital and Economic Work Report
Review of Economy, Public Livelihood, Youth, and Digital Sectors
Debut of 'AI Readable Report' for Official Document Assetization
'Safe Account' Support for Small Businesses Increased to 500 Billion Won

Going forward, official documents from the Seoul Metropolitan Government will be written in an 'AI Readable' format that makes it easy for artificial intelligence (AI) to read, analyze, and expand upon them. Public data will be treated as assets, and the overall document system will be fundamentally improved so that citizens can utilize the necessary information. The goal is not only to nurture AI talent and businesses, but also to establish Seoul as an 'AI testbed.'

On January 23, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced this strategy during the '2026 New Year Work Report' covering the fields of economy, public livelihood, youth, and digital sectors.

On the 23rd, the Seoul Metropolitan Government held the '2026 New Year Work Report' covering the fields of economy, public livelihood, youth, and digital sectors to discuss the strategy for revising Seoul's official documents. Photo by Sehun Oh, Mayor of Seoul. Seoul Metropolitan Government

First, the Digital City Bureau will focus this year on citizen-centric digital administration that directly connects AI and digital technologies to everyday life. The generative AI-based consultation chatbot 'Seoul Talk' will be upgraded to raise the civil complaint response rate to over 90%, significantly improving citizen convenience. Public data with high potential for AI utilization will be selectively opened for citizen use, and the city will promote digital daily life by building a self-owned communication network and expanding public Wi-Fi.

Efforts to bridge the digital divide will also continue. In March, an additional 'Digital Companion Plaza' will open in Dongdaemun, completing six regional hubs, while 'Digital Companion Partners' will be stationed at key locations such as the Express Bus Terminal to support citizen services. The city also plans to provide 'Citizen AI Education' for 100,000 people annually.

Notably, the city also unveiled a report in the 'AI Readable' format. Unlike documents designed for human readability with layouts, tables, and images, 'AI Readable' documents are standardized so that AI can accurately understand and process the document structure and flow. This allows AI to instantly comprehend, analyze, summarize, compare, and expand upon the content. Starting with this New Year Work Report as a pilot, Seoul will refine the approach for practical application and, from March, apply it to key documents such as policy reports and major plans, with plans to gradually expand it to all departments in the future.

The Economic Affairs Office presented a blueprint for the growth of Seoul's economy, focusing on nurturing deep tech and discovering new industries, demonstrating and deregulating innovative technologies for a V-turn in Seoul's economy, and responding to the AI-driven job transformation (JX). In response to the era of AI transformation, the city will support the training of AI talent and the AI Transformation (AX) of small and medium-sized enterprises, while also intensively fostering a 'Physical AI' industrial belt connecting Yangjae, Suseo, and Gangnam.

In this regard, a robot cluster will be established in the Suseo station area to create the 'Seoul Physical AI Connect,' where research and development, talent cultivation, demonstration and experience, and commercialization are organically linked. Additionally, the city will generate synergy by organically connecting industrial hubs such as Sangam and Magok, the Hongneung bio-medical cluster, and the Chang-dong and Sanggye S-DBC in northern Seoul.

The Public Livelihood and Labor Bureau announced support strategies for small business owners, who serve as the lifeblood of Seoul's economy, by increasing the budget for the 'Safe Account'-the nation's first revolving line of credit for small business owners introduced last year-from 400 billion won to 500 billion won. The scale of long-term, low-interest policy funding will also expand from 90,000 recipients last year to 120,000 this year, and efforts will focus on easing financial burdens by lowering additional interest rates and fully waiving early repayment fees.

In addition, the city will strengthen protection for franchisees. Following the establishment of 'essential items and penalty guidelines' to protect franchisees from unfair practices by franchisors, this year the city will introduce guidelines for setting business areas to prevent infringement of franchisees' business rights due to excessive new store openings.

Mayor Oh Sehun stated, "This year, our goal is to make the achievements of 'accompanying the underprivileged' and new industries, which we have steadily pursued, tangible for citizens. I ask everyone to do their utmost with creative mindsets and on-the-ground execution so that citizens can feel and be satisfied with an 'attractive and happy Seoul.'"

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