The National Information Society Agency (NIA) has opened the AI Data Safe Use Center after revamping the existing K-ICT Big Data Center.

NIA and the Ministry of Science and ICT said on Sept. 30 they held an opening ceremony for the AI Data Safe Use Center a day earlier at Gyeonggi Startup Campus.

The AI Data Safe Use Center upgrades the facilities and functions of the K-ICT Big Data Center, which opened in 2013. It strengthens data safe zone functions under the Data Industry Act and is tasked with responding to rising demand for secure data use as AI technology advances.

As part of the remodeling, it expanded data analysis rooms to 5 from 1 and set up a new AI lounge where private-sector, public-sector and academic participants can collaborate.

The data safe zone, the data combination support center and the AI lounge will be linked and operated as a single "High-Trust Zone". It will support analysis of sensitive data that is difficult to disclose without external leakage, and enable high-performance AI analysis.

The center will also serve as a central hub to connect regional data safe zones through the cloud. The data combination support center will be upgraded to meet the latest security rules and certification standards, and it plans to link pseudonym processing, functions of specialized data-combination agencies and data safe zone functions.

NIA President Kim Hyung-chul (김형철) said, "With the opening of the AI Data Safe Use Center, we have further strengthened the physical and technical foundation for combining and using pseudonymised information." He added, "We will serve as a focal point for building a safe AI data-use ecosystem that the public can trust."