Deputy Prime Minister and Science and ICT Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said South Korea has entered the top tier of AI-leading countries, calling for continued development of its homegrown AI foundation models to strengthen the country's AI ecosystem.
Bae made the remarks in a social media post Wednesday, sharing the results of the Boston Consulting Group's 2026 AI Maturity Matrix.
"Korea has joined the group of AI pioneers alongside the United States and China," Bae said. "It has risen to the leaders' group in just one year, after being classified as a steady contender last year."
He said BCG had positively assessed South Korea's capabilities in developing homegrown AI models, as well as its AI ecosystem and large-scale public investment in computing infrastructure.
"The assessment is significant because it shows that the efforts of the public and private sectors are beginning to gain international recognition," Bae said.
"Being recognized as an AI leader and actually leading the world are two different things," he said. "We must now take on more challenging problems based on the AI capabilities we have built."
He said, "We must continuously develop independent foundation models to make South Korea's AI ecosystem even more robust, while also securing frontier AI capabilities that can tackle scientific and technological challenges humanity has not yet solved. We must enhance the competitiveness of our industries, including manufacturing, through agentic AI and physical AI, and ensure that AI creates new industries and jobs."
in TECH
