Government to Embed AI-Driven Work Practices in Public Institutions

AI Leadership Groups to Launch This Year
Breaking Down Data Barriers Between Agencies
Dramatic Productivity Gains Expected

Drafting reports filled with complex figures and having robots handle hazardous tasks that threaten workers' lives.

The government is launching an initiative to drive innovation for a major artificial intelligence (AI) transformation across public institutions. On January 29, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that, starting this year, it will operate a collaborative system centered on leading AI institutions to promote the sharing and joint utilization of data among public agencies, thereby spreading the achievements of AI adoption. Last year, the ministry focused on establishing an institutional foundation for AI utilization in public institutions, selecting leading AI agencies, and strengthening institutional incentives such as management evaluations.

This year, the policy focus will shift from individual agency-centered AI utilization to collaboration and broader dissemination. To achieve this, the existing leading AI institutions will form and operate sector-specific AI leadership groups (councils) by grouping together agencies with similar work and industry characteristics.

The leadership groups will operate across five key sectors: environment and energy; SOC, transportation, and logistics; finance and insurance; employment, health, welfare, and safety; and industry, trade, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises. Within each group, the leading institution will serve as the secretariat, spearheading collaboration among participating agencies. Through this approach, AI projects, achievements, and challenges pursued by each agency will be shared on an ongoing basis, and similar or overlapping projects will be jointly promoted to enhance investment efficiency.

In particular, data sharing and joint utilization among public institutions will be fully implemented. Centered on the AI leadership groups, agencies will identify and refine their data assets, and for areas where joint use is possible, AI models and systems will be shared to eliminate inefficiencies arising from individual agency deployments. The Ministry of Economy and Finance explained, "We expect this to reduce the cost of AI adoption and accelerate the spread of its achievements."

Efforts to identify and disseminate best practices in AI utilization will also be strengthened. The ministry plans to host AI competitions to discover outstanding, field-driven achievements, and to support the spread of results by enhancing the AI section of the technology marketplace and expanding on-site inspections. In addition, for the first time, the status of AI utilization in public institutions will be disclosed on ALIO (the integrated public management information system), and AI-related education will be systematized to foster AI talent in the public sector.

Through these measures, the Ministry of Economy and Finance expects to enhance work productivity and safety management in public institutions in the short term, stimulate the creation of a private AI market by expanding public sector demand for AI in the medium term, and ultimately contribute to raising the country's potential growth rate by improving productivity across the entire public sector in the long term.

Lee Cheolgyu, Director of the Public Innovation Planning Division at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, stated, "The government will continue to provide policy support so that public institutions can lead in AI adoption and establish a virtuous cycle in which these achievements are spread to the private sector and the public as a whole."

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