[Digital Today reporter Jin-ho Lee (이진호)] South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT is forming an execution organisation to innovate AI services for the public. It plans to identify, develop and test innovative AI services by seconding civil servants and hiring private-sector experts.

The ministry has recently issued an advance administrative notice of a draft regulation on the establishment and operation of the National AI Service Innovation Taskforce.

Under the draft, the taskforce will be set up under the science minister. Its purpose is to provide AI-based services to the public quickly and respond to demand for AI services. Key duties include designing, developing, testing and upgrading AI adoption and transition services, identifying related projects and cooperating with and supporting relevant agencies.

The taskforce will consist of 1 head, 1 senior official, team leaders and team members. The head will be appointed as a fixed-term civil servant from among people with extensive knowledge and experience in developing and providing AI services. The senior official will be appointed from among senior civil servants at the ministry.

The taskforce will launch no later than the second half of this year. The ministry is currently estimating the organisation's size and required staffing. Once related administrative procedures are completed, it plans to proceed with an open recruitment for the head and processes to second and hire personnel. A ministry official said the organisation is under the deputy prime minister for science but will be set up with a separate staffing quota, adding it will receive the quota through consultations among ministries.

The taskforce is expected to go beyond a civil servant-led policy coordination organisation and be run in a way that internalises actual AI service development capabilities. The ministry is reviewing a plan to hire private developers to effectively develop and provide public-facing AI innovation services.

It also plans to run an advisory group made up of relevant experts and a policy consultative body involving related administrative agencies, including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The design, development, testing and upgrading of AI-based services in the public sector will be pursued in consultation with the interior ministry. The draft also includes a plan to run a public-private consultative body to reflect views from industry and civil society.

A ministry official said the goal is to drive actual AI service innovation through private developers in addition to seconding civil servants, adding it aims to move quickly to innovate AI services for the public.