South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on Thursday it will hold a joint briefing on its "10 AI projects for livelihoods" at the Nuri Dream Square International Conference Hall in Mapo-gu, Seoul.

The 10 AI projects for livelihoods are a programme promoted by the ministry to quickly introduce services that people can experience in daily life. It selected tasks after deliberation by a meeting of ministers related to science and technology last November, and later chose participating companies through a public call for proposals.

In the consumer life category, it is 추진한다 four projects: the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and ILS Frontier's "AI agricultural products smart consumer information platform" (price trend analysis and location-based recommendations for places to buy and alternative ingredients); the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Upstage's "AI start-up and management consulting for small business owners" (industry and product recommendations and operations consulting); the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and 42Maru's "AI safety watchdog for human-applied products" (Q&A on ingredients in food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics); and the Korea Heritage Service and All4Land's "AI national heritage interpretation solution" (tailored multilingual interpretation).

In the public convenience category, it will operate three projects: the National Tax Service and ITCEN Entec's "AI national tax consultation system" (personalised phone and chatbot consultations); the National Police Agency and CSRI's "AI-based police officer for everyone" (a public-security-focused AI agent); and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and BI Matrix's "AI integrated pre-diagnosis for permits and approvals" (civil complaint guidance based on land and building information).

In the social safety category, it is promoting three projects: the Ministry of Science and ICT and EXEM's "AI voice phishing joint response platform"; child and youth crisis response in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (Apex ESC's automatic detection of online sexual exploitation material and E2ON's AI detection of crisis signs based on social media); and the Korea Coast Guard and GMT's "AI for maritime risk analysis based on aerial evidence footage" (detection of illegal entry, illegal fishing boats and pollutants).

Officials from 10 cooperating ministries and agencies and participating companies will attend the briefing to review implementation strategies and key tasks and schedules for each project.

The ministry plans to sequentially launch four project services within 2026, including the agricultural and livestock consumer information platform, the AI national tax consultation system, child and youth crisis response, and the AI national heritage interpretation solution. The remaining six projects, including the police officer for everyone and small business consulting, will launch services in the first half of 2027.

Lee Do-gyu (이도규), director general for information and communications policy at the ministry, said the 10 AI projects for livelihoods are a first step for the public to experience the results of becoming one of three leading AI powers. He said ministries, agencies and companies will work closely together to implement AI services without setbacks that bring tangible changes to people's lives.