The government has enacted the "Republic of Korea AI Ethics Principles," a common standard for members of society to follow in the development, provision and use of AI. It sets human dignity, the public good and humanity's sustainability as three core values. It also presents seven principles including human-centricity, privacy protection, fairness and inclusiveness.

The Ministry of Science and ICT held the 12th meeting of ministers related to science and technology in writing under Vice Prime Minister Bae Kyung-hoon (배경훈), who also serves as science and ICT minister. It deliberated and approved three agenda items including the "Republic of Korea AI Ethics Principles," a roadmap for autonomous driving AI demonstration and commercialisation, and a strategy to vitalise deep-tech start-ups, the ministry said on Sunday.

The AI ethics principles are a voluntary code that presents key values and principles to consider in conflict situations surrounding AI. The code was prepared under the Basic Act on the Development of AI and the Establishment of a Trust-Based Foundation. It has no legal binding force, but serves as a foundation for sector-specific ethical standards and guidelines applied across all areas of society.

The government explained that there is a strong need to supplement existing ethical standards as new social issues emerge with the advancement of AI technology and the spread of its use. It cited overdependence, labour surveillance, job changes, copyright and AI plagiarism, and delegation of judgement in hiring and evaluation processes. It reflects changes in the institutional environment, including AI technological development and the enforcement of the AI basic act, while inheriting the "AI Ethics Standards" prepared in 2020.

The three core values of the ethics principles are set as human dignity, the public good and humanity's sustainability. They include the direction that humans should be respected as ends in themselves rather than as means. The principles also say that AI benefits should lead to social trust and shared gains, and that present and future generations should be able to enjoy the benefits together.

The government set out seven principles to implement those values: human-centricity, privacy protection, fairness and inclusiveness, accountability, safety, reliability and transparency. The principles include content saying people should not rely excessively on AI and should respect the right to self-determination over personal information. They also include preventing bias and unjust discrimination, and establishing accountability and remedies for damages when problems occur.

A feature of the principles is that they define users of AI, as well as companies and researchers that develop and provide AI, as actors responsible for its responsible use. They also include content calling for countries and companies with greater AI capabilities and resources to take responsibility commensurate with their influence. The principles also say AI benefits should not be concentrated in specific groups.

The ministry and the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) have pushed to establish the ethics principles since last December and released a draft in early May. They then collected a total of 153 opinions from industry, civil society, academia, the general public and relevant ministries. A final draft was prepared after a public debate forum on Aug. 14.

The government will support application in the field by preparing case-based explanatory materials, voluntary checklists by sector, and AI ethics education textbooks tailored by target group. It plans to continuously review and supplement the ethics principles in line with technological and social changes. It also plans to share and expand them internationally.

The meeting also approved a "roadmap for autonomous driving AI demonstration and commercialisation" to accelerate early commercialisation of homegrown autonomous driving AI. The government will expand the scale and regions of demonstrations that began in Gwangju demonstration city to secure large-scale driving data. It aims to improve the performance and generality of homegrown autonomous driving AI. In deep tech, it will also 추진 a start-up activation strategy to support commercialisation of results from "seven SEED" technologies.

Bae said accelerating AI innovation and creating a safe and trustworthy AI environment are not tasks that stand in opposition to each other. He said he would support the Republic of Korea AI Ethics Principles so that they become a standard that boosts social trust in AI and helps spread its benefits.