South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on Sunday that participants in the National AI Competition have surpassed 1 million within three months of its launch.

The competition consists of AI quiz-solving, AI creative activities, AI-based problem-solving and technology development, and a contest for AI use cases. People of all ages can take part, from elementary, middle and high school students to older people.

AI Champion for experts and AI Rookie for university students are competitive categories with top prizes of up to 500 million won. Some 200 teams are currently in the finals process.

The online experience program Click On AI drew 690,000 participants, and the AI Quiz Competition drew 330,000. The ministry will extend the operating period for Click On AI Season 1 by two weeks to run through July 21.

A total of 2,726 people were recruited for the AI Creation Competition and Robotics Challenge for elementary, middle and high school students. Regional preliminaries nationwide will continue through September. An online exhibition of outstanding works from the Our Family Mind-Connecting AI Challenge will open on Monday.

An event marking the milestone of more than 1 million participants will also begin on Sunday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Science and ICT Minister Bae Kyung-hoon (배경훈) said, "The significance of this competition is not simply that there are many participants. It is more important because AI is becoming a technology that anyone can experience and use." He added, "I will support it through the end so that AI does not remain a technology for a few, but can become a possibility for everyone."