"As AI (artificial intelligence) performance is developing rapidly, I believe trust and safety are also important. We will secure capabilities by increasing personnel and budget for the safety research institute"
Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, attended the National Assembly audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT held on the morning of the 6th at Seoul Yeouido National Assembly and responded to a question from Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Ju-hee stating that "investment in AI safety must be increased."
Lee (Rep.) pointed out the shortage of personnel and budget related to AI safety during the audit on the day. Lee (Rep.) said, "Korea's safety research institute personnel has only increased from 26 to 38, whereas the UK has over 100 and Japan currently has 60 with a target of reaching 200." He added, "Next year's AI performance and infrastructure budget is 6.149 trillion won, but the safety and trust budget is only 27.4 billion won, a ratio of 224 to 1," and "preparations to secure 1% for the safety budget must be reflected starting from next year's budget."
Deputy Prime Minister Bae answered, "Currently, when evaluating high-impact AI or AI safety, we often commission the UK AI Safety Institute because of its large personnel scale and excellent capabilities. As AI performance is developing rapidly, I believe trust and safety are important, and we will secure capabilities by increasing personnel and budget for the safety research institute."
Deputy Prime Minister Bae explained that in addition to next year's budget in the 20 billion won range allocated to AI safety and trust, two AI safety-related projects are underway: a security-specialized AI foundation model project and a Frontier AI project. Deputy Prime Minister Bae added, "For the security-specialized AI foundation model project, we plan to provide GPUs (graphics processing units) this year and allocate budget next year," and "since the Frontier AI project also falls under this category, the government is preparing comprehensively from various angles for overall safety."
Finally, Deputy Prime Minister Bae stated, "I believe activities in the international community are also important regarding overall trust and safety. While following international standards, we are preparing to build the capability to lead them," and "we plan to formulate and announce a master plan for creating a safety ecosystem by December this year. We will thoroughly prepare three major strategies: △ building a national AI safety management system, △ strengthening capabilities to respond to advanced AI safety, and △ creating an AI safety environment in citizens' daily lives."
in TECH
