South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT on March 31 published an "AI Basic Act help desk casebook" made up of frequently asked questions and answers to support early on-site implementation of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Basic Act.

The casebook analyses company inquiries submitted through a help desk opened on Jan. 22 and is organised around 20 frequently asked questions. Over about 10 weeks since the opening, the help desk received a total of 552 consultations and handled 262 phone consultations immediately. Of 290 online consultations, 262 were answered within an average of 1 day.

The ministry stressed that the number of consultations in the first week of enforcement was 132 and fell to 44 in the ninth week, indicating improved understanding among companies on the ground. About 68.9 percent of online consultations came from companies, with small and venture firms accounting for 36.2 percent and large companies 32.7 percent. Questions related to transparency labelling obligations were the most common at 51 percent. Questions about whether something qualifies as high-impact AI accounted for 19.6 percent.

The ministry said it confirmed that companies were more curious about how the provisions apply to their own situations than about the legal clauses themselves. It said the casebook was designed to be easy to understand from a company's perspective.

The casebook consists of an overview of the AI Basic Act, FAQs by major provision and in-depth answers by type. The type-based answers are classified into four categories: obligated entities and applicable targets, methods for transparency labelling, whether something qualifies as high-impact AI, and other inquiries.

The appendix includes practical criteria, such as checklists, that companies including startups can use on their own, and guidance on responses by type of other damage caused by AI. The casebook can be downloaded from the ministry and the help desk website of the Korea AI·SW Industry Association. The ministry plans to run the help desk on a permanent basis and expand support to include legal consulting and technical advice.

Lee Jin-su (이진수), director general for AI policy planning at the ministry, said it would conduct an in-depth analysis of companies' questions and difficulties received through the help desk and actively use the findings for future system improvements.