by Na Juseok
Published 22 Apr.2026 10:50(KST)
Although Korea presents itself as one of the top three global powerhouses in artificial intelligence (AI), there are concerns that the country’s talent strategy is experiencing a bottleneck. Observers have pointed out the need for a strategy that comprehensively designs the entire lifecycle of talent as well as the structure of the industry value chain.
On April 22, the National Assembly hosted a policy forum on “AI Talent Development,” co-organized by the National Assembly Futures Institute, the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee, and the National Academy of Engineering of Korea. Professor Ye Youngjun of Gachon University, who served as the lead presenter, expressed concern that “since the high school stage, students have been shunning mathematics and science, and top talent has gravitated toward medical and law schools, resulting in a continuous decline in the inflow of talent into advanced fields.” Regarding gifted education in Korea, he diagnosed, “Sustainability and connectivity have weakened, making it difficult for top-tier science and engineering talent to develop and settle in Korea.”
He also pointed out that universities face limitations in establishing a system for fostering convergence-type talent due to institutional rigidity and lack of autonomy, especially compared to the demand for AI+X. In addition, alliance models such as inter-university cooperation, joint degrees, and credit exchanges at the regional level are also facing limitations due to various regulatory barriers. Furthermore, R&D support has been overly concentrated on short-term, individual, and competitive projects, which has hindered the accumulation of collective and long-term research capabilities.
In relation to this, Professor Ye noted, “Korea’s AI talent strategy is facing stage-specific limitations that act sequentially and exacerbate the instability of the entire talent pipeline.”
The solution, he argued, is to shift toward a strategy that integrates the entire lifecycle of talent and the structure of the industrial value chain. He emphasized, “It is necessary to redefine the concept of AI talent as a multidimensional structure encompassing domain, level, function, and role, and to design policies that facilitate organic circulation among these categories.” He further diagnosed that “it is essential to reestablish the strategic roles of government, universities, research institutions, and companies, and to build cooperative governance.”
Professor Ye also proposed, “Through a Presidential AI Talent Policy Committee (tentative name), the functions of different ministries should be integrated and coordinated, and strategic priorities should be set. AI talent policy, industrial policy, science and technology policy, and employment policy must be interconnected.”
Woo Wonshik, Speaker of the National Assembly, said in his congratulatory remarks, “To enhance national AI capabilities, diagnosis, policy design, and field implementation must be organically connected. Now that the AI Basic Act has passed through bipartisan agreement, the National Assembly will continue to play an active role in nurturing AI talent and strengthening industrial competitiveness.”
Kim Kisik, President of the Futures Institute, stated, “The number of highly skilled professionals produced in the AI field is absolutely insufficient compared to competing countries, and the outflow of core talent overseas is also at a serious level. This is a structural issue that requires a fundamental redesign at the level of national strategy.”
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