Lee Chang-yong: "Korea is a Frontline Country in AI Development, Bank of Korea Also Actively Investing"

Lee Chang-yong, Governor of the Bank of Korea

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Lee Chang-yong, Governor of the Bank of Korea, evaluated South Korea as a country at the forefront of global artificial intelligence (AI) development. The Bank of Korea also announced that it will take a more active approach to related investments, including building a system that uses AI to detect financial crises early.

Governor Lee made these remarks on the 17th at the Bank of Korea headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, during a conference titled "AI, Finance, Central Banks: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policy Responses." The event was jointly hosted by the Bank of Korea, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

Governor Lee stated, "AI, which is rapidly being adopted worldwide, has the potential and opportunity to transform our daily lives," adding, "AI can impact not only financial markets but also labor markets and inflation."

He emphasized, "South Korea is one of the few countries globally that holds influence across the entire AI value chain." He introduced, "South Korea has a competitive advantage in AI semiconductor development and is developing large-scale language models (LLM) based on the Korean language, as well as various AI software." He further added, "Amid escalating geopolitical tensions and global manufacturing competition, AI-based IT service exports could become a new growth engine for South Korea."

The Bank of Korea also revealed that it is utilizing AI at the central bank level for economic forecasting and analysis. It is developing a system that uses AI to provide early warnings of risks in financial markets and is also assisting with inquiries related to internal regulations through AI chatbots. Governor Lee said, "Although significant costs are involved in AI investment, and there are concerns, we will actively invest in AI to seize better opportunities."

Kim So-young, Vice Chairperson of the Financial Services Commission, who attended the event, also stated that policy support for the development of the domestic AI industry will continue. Vice Chairperson Kim explained, "Globally, the financial industry is actively and diversely utilizing AI," adding, "Major domestic banks, insurance companies, and financial investment firms are testing AI applications in various tasks such as customer management, asset management, product sales, and fraud detection, and have actually launched services."

She added, "While the FSC will provide policy support for AI utilization to strengthen the global competitiveness of domestic financial companies, it will also establish standards to minimize the side effects of financial AI."

Meanwhile, Shin Hyun-song, Director of the BIS Research Department, who delivered the keynote speech at the event, suggested that central banks should play roles as data producers, users, and disseminators to secure large-scale data necessary for AI utilization.

In his keynote speech titled "AI and the Economy: Implications for Central Banks," Director Shin emphasized, "Central banks are using AI for various purposes such as short-term macroeconomic forecasting and money laundering detection," and added, "Central banks must perform the roles of data producers, users, and disseminators to secure the large-scale data required for AI utilization."

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