Former Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung promised investment in artificial intelligence (AI) as the first campaign pledge for the 21st presidential election. He announced plans to strengthen the National AI Commission, a presidential commission, and introduce an educational system for nurturing AI talent.

Lee Jae-myung, former leader of the Democratic Party, who declared his candidacy for the 21st presidential election, is answering questions from reporters after finishing the announcement of his vision and campaign appointments at the National Assembly's communication hall in Yeouido, Seoul, on Nov. 11. /Courtesy of News1

On the 14th, former leader Lee posted an article titled "We will stand as one of the world's top three AI powers" on Facebook, stating, "AI will be a 'game changer' that will alter the landscape of the world economy in our time," and said, "We will open the era of 100 trillion won investment in AI."

Former leader Lee said, "South Korea must now be a leading country that designs the future of the world with advanced science and technology, not just a following country," and added, "This is why K-AI is essential in the K-initiative."

He emphasized, "Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, noted that AI will have a greater impact on humanity than fire or electricity," stating, "We will create an 'AI basic society' that analyzes financial, health, food, and disaster risk to safeguard the lives of citizens."

The AI-related presidential campaign pledges announced by former leader Lee include ▲ strengthening the functions of the National AI Commission, a presidential body ▲ creating a national AI data aggregation cluster ▲ opening public data to corporations for research and development ▲ establishing a global AI co-investment fund ▲ introducing 'STEM' education programs in the AI field ▲ setting up AI colleges at regional universities ▲ rationalizing AI regulations ▲ promoting the national AI project 'Everyone's AI.'

Former leader Lee stated, "I want to increase the budget related to AI to a level that exceeds that of developed countries," adding, "Now we must fill in what we have 'missed' and 'overlooked' while only focusing on the goal of quantitative growth." He further emphasized, "As productivity increases and working hours decrease due to AI, an 'AI era with work-life balance will open up.'"

On the day, former leader Lee will visit the domestic AI semiconductor startup Puriosa AI. The Lee Jae-myung campaign explained that the visit was meant to present a vision for leading the global AI industry by directly visiting the site of Korean technology that can break NVIDIA's monopoly in the global AI semiconductor market.