“Domestic S-level talent goes to the U.S. and Canada, while A-level talent goes to Naver and Kakao. Even large corporations in the manufacturing industry cannot even glimpse artificial intelligence (AI) talent.”
A corporation engaged in the AI business noted this while the government is developing a strategy for attracting and utilizing foreign talent in advanced industries. This strategy was released in September last year and is being gradually implemented from this year; however, there are evaluations on-site saying it has "no significant effect." There are calls for "fundamental solutions" to retain domestic AI talent that is leaking overseas.
According to the IT industry on the 26th, the Lee Jae-myung government is forming an "AI Cabinet" centered on private experts, raising expectations for a complete overhaul of the talent acquisition strategy. A representative from a publicly traded corporation engaged in the AI business said, “Although measures for securing talent in advanced industries, including AI, have been proposed, there has not been a dramatic change in corporate settings.” He added, “In the past six months, not only has the acquisition of foreign talent been difficult, but the trend of domestic AI talent leaving for overseas has intensified, causing a more serious labor shortage.”
President Lee appointed Ha Jung-woo, former head of Naver Cloud AI Innovation Center, as the AI Future Planning Senior Secretary, and nominated Bae Gyeong-hun, head of LG AI Research Institute, as the Minister of Science and ICT candidate. Additionally, he selected Han Seong-suk, former CEO of Naver, as the candidate for Minister of SMEs and Startups, suggesting that the focus on private sector-led AI promotion strategies will gain momentum. An IT industry official noted, “Since all three appointees have personally experienced a severe shortage of AI manpower at corporations, we expect that the voices from the industrial field will be reflected in the talent acquisition policies.”
◇ 3.6 overseas for every 100,000 AI talents
According to a report released last month by the Software Policy Research Institute (SPRi), a subsidiary of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), 81.9% of the 2,354 corporations operating AI businesses in Korea reported a shortage of AI talent. A survey by the Ministry of Employment and Labor predicted that if the current situation continues, there will be a shortage of 12,800 new personnel in the AI field by 2027.
The background of the lack of domestic AI talent is attributed to the "brain drain issue." According to the Human-Centered AI (HAI) Institute at Stanford University, last year, 3.6 AI talents per 100,000 individuals left Korea. This ranks Korea 35th out of the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the lowest level. This figure worsened from 0.4 in 2022 and 3.0 in 2023. Until 2020-2021, AI talents were in a "net influx," but this has recently changed to a "net outflow."
SPRi analyzed, “Many domestic corporations are turning their eyes to securing foreign talent due to the AI manpower shortage, yet our country's AI talents are experiencing a net outflow.” It added, “In particular, small and medium enterprises are facing difficulties in attracting foreign talent due to constraints in salaries, benefits, and research environments.”
◇ “We need to ease visa restrictions and open opportunities for participating in national projects”
Experts advise that since the Lee Jae-myung government has appointed private AI experts as decision-makers in policy, there is a need to quickly establish AI talent development and acquisition strategies that reflect the "industrial reality." Kim Sang-kyun, a professor of AI business at Kyunghee University Business School, said, “We need to create an environment where domestically developed AI talents do not go abroad,” and added, “The issue of AI talent outflow is fundamentally simple; it is because the value obtained is low compared to the effort invested by individuals, leading them to go overseas for greater rewards.”
Professor Kim suggested several policy alternatives to provide 'value for effort' to AI talents, including ▲expansion of scholarships for universities and graduate schools ▲provision of guaranteed employment for AI jobs after graduation ▲financial support for raising salaries of corporate AI experts ▲and military service benefits.
Yoon Bo-sung, a senior researcher at the Software Policy and Talent Research Lab of SPRi, stated in the report, “To enhance competitiveness in the AI era, it is essential to train a large number of domestic talents and prevent their outflow,” and advised, “We need to strengthen industry-academia cooperation and educational innovation that can broadly utilize easing visa restrictions and opportunities to participate in national projects, from startups to large corporations.”
He added, “When overseas professionals of Korean descent return, we need to focus on providing funding and infrastructure necessary for research and startups, and establish institutional mechanisms that allow them to contribute to Korea through joint projects or consulting.”