The government will choose a brand representing its policy to strengthen AI capabilities based on ideas from the public.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said on Wednesday it will hold a 14-day "National AI Capability Enhancement Policy Brand Contest" through Sept. 30.

The contest is a follow-up to the "Plan to strengthen and mainstream AI utilisation capabilities for all citizens" approved at a ministerial meeting on science and technology affairs in March. The government is pushing policies to expand education opportunities so anyone can use AI in daily life and to link what people learn to actual service development and startups.

The Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and 9 other related ministries will provide basic AI education online and offline, including at schools and lifelong learning centres, for groups ranging from students to older people. This year's education target is at least 5,140,000 people. After training, the government will also build an "AI growth ladder for everyone" so people can practise ideas and connect them to service development and startups. It will also push projects to broaden a culture of AI use through a national AI competition and the spread of AI use cases.

The science ministry said it believes an integrated brand is needed so the public can recognise the programmes run across multiple ministries as a single policy, and it created the contest on that basis. The contest categories are a name and slogan for the nationwide AI capability enhancement policy, and any South Korean citizen can participate.

Submitted entries will be narrowed to 5 candidates after expert review from Oct. 1 to 7. An online public vote will then run from Oct. 8 to 14 to choose the final winner. The results are expected to be announced on Oct. 15.

Total prize money is 4.5 million won. The grand prize winner will receive 2 million won, one top excellence award winner will receive 1 million won, and three excellence award winners will each receive 500,000 won. The ministry will also draw 50 participants to receive coffee coupons. People who want to participate can submit entries on the contest information page of the Everyone's AI Learning Center or the National AI Competition website. The final brand will be used as an integrated brand for future nationwide AI capability enhancement policies and events across ministries.