South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT will hold "AI Week 2026-AI Festa" at COEX in Seoul from Oct. 6 to 8. About 350 AI companies and institutions from home and abroad will take part, operating about 500 exhibition booths.

The ministry will host the event with the Korea AI Software Industry Association (KOSA) and the AI Festa Organising Committee under the slogan, "AI becomes reality. AI for everyone." It is an exhibition and conference introducing AI technologies and services being used in workplaces and daily life.

The exhibition will introduce top entries from this year's national AI contest and proprietary AI foundation models. Major technologies will be showcased, including proprietary foundation models from LG AI Research, Upstage and SK Telecom, as well as AI semiconductors, physical AI and defence AI. An international conference will also be held with AI leaders from major companies at home and abroad and government officials. Participants will share the latest AI technology trends and discuss challenges in industry and demand for policy.

On the first day, Oct. 6, the opening ceremony and an "AI industry policy talk show" will be held. Attendees at the opening ceremony include Ha Jung-woo (하정우), vice chair of the National AI Strategy Committee, and Lee Hae-min (이해민), senior presidential secretary for AI Future Planning, along with participants from industry, academia, research and government.

After the opening ceremony, a policy talk show will be held under the theme, "Putting voices from the field into policy - Q&A with the AI industry." Participants will share difficulties faced by the AI industry and policy proposals and discuss policy directions to achieve "a leap to the world's top 3 AI powers" and realise "AI for everyone." It will also listen to opinions from the general public to create AI outcomes that people can feel.

On Oct. 7, Ryu Je-myung (류제명), second vice minister at the ministry, will invite about 20 foreign ambassadors and diplomats in South Korea from countries including Britain, China and Sweden for a luncheon meeting and an exhibition tour. The meeting will share AI policies and strategies in each country and discuss ways to link demonstrations and commercialisation between companies and institutions and support overseas expansion.

A quantum forum, AI summit and cybersecurity conference will also be held. At the quantum forum, the Korea Quantum Industry Association and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), among others, will discuss the potential for convergence between AI and quantum technology and strategies to strengthen domestic technology competitiveness. At the AI summit, representatives from global companies including Google DeepMind, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Anthropic will share their vision for the future of AI and execution strategies.

At the cybersecurity conference, about 100 participants including the National Intelligence Service, the AI Safety Institute and security companies will discuss changes in the cybersecurity paradigm and response directions stemming from advances in AI models.

Ryu said, "AI Festa is a place to make our country's AI technology and industrial capabilities known at home and abroad and expand opportunities for global cooperation." He said, "We will not spare policy support so that domestic AI companies can leap into the global market and people can feel AI outcomes in their daily lives."