South Korea has selected SK Telecom, KT and Kakao to lead a government 'nationwide AI' program to provide ChatGPT-like services and personal AI assistants free to all 51.6m citizens, the Financial Times reports. Vice Premier said AI should be treated

2026-09-27

South Korea has selected SK Telecom, KT and Kakao to lead a government 'nationwide AI' program to provide ChatGPT-like services and personal AI assistants free to all 51.6m citizens, the Financial Times reports. Vice Premier said AI should be treated as basic infrastructure like electricity so every citizens can afford to use; South Korea's Lee last year called the technology a historic turning point. The vice premier acknowledged risks that the technology could run out of control but said Seoul is determined to become a genuine top-three AI power and wrote: "we have no room to slow the pace of AI development. We will speed up, but more safely."