A global AI assessment body said South Korea has quickly risen to become one of the world’s top three AI countries on the back of its sovereign foundation model project. Artificial Analysis said South Korean models still lag top U.S. and Chinese models on intelligence, but competitiveness should not be judged by scores alone given large cost gaps and the flexibility of open-weight models. It said South Korea should focus on strengths such as advanced manufacturing while continuing to develop general-purpose capabilities, including AI for science, agents and coding.

South Korea selected SK Telecom, KT and a Kakao consortium as operators for the nationwide “AI for Everyone” project, the science ministry said on Thursday. The consortiums will use their lead organisations’ strengths to launch public-facing AI services this year. Evaluations reviewed model and service competitiveness, GPU use and infrastructure plans, plus convenience, user acquisition strategies, quality and safety. The ministry plans contracts in September, a beta service and formal launch this year.