Graphic=Jeong Seo-hee

Ahead of the 6·3 early presidential election, candidates for the presidency are rushing to present their 'AI promises,' but there are criticisms in the industry that these are 'hollow declarations.' This is because they are merely superficial announcements lacking specificity and direction. Concerns are also raised that, without any funding measures, the competition over investment sizes ranging from 'tens of trillions to hundreds of trillions' might end up being nothing more than populist promises.

According to political circles on the 17th, the candidates in the party's presidential primary are competing over the 'scale' of AI investments.

Lee Jae-myung, a primary candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, said, 'I will open the era of 100 trillion won in AI investment' and emphasized, 'I will secure at least 50,000 graphic processing units (GPUs) and actively support the development and demonstration of AI-specific neural processing units (NPUs).'

Kim Kyeong-soo, another primary candidate from the Democratic Party, also suggested 100 trillion won. However, he noted, 'I will achieve joint public-private investment over the next five years,' positioning himself as someone who differentiates from others.

From the People Power Party, candidate Han Dong-hoon has introduced an investment plan of 200 trillion won, which includes the creation of an AI ecosystem. He stated, 'I will strategically invest in actual application fields such as medical AI, robotics, defense AI, drones, and autonomous driving.'

Candidate Hong Joon-pyo mentioned he will invest over 50 trillion won in cutting-edge technology, including the AI sector. Ahn Cheol-soo, who comes from a science background, proposed the establishment of a startup fund worth 20 trillion won to create a 'startup nation.' Na Kyung-won also stated he would invest 10 trillion won in the AI sector.

A consensus has long been established in political circles that 'we must become a leading country in the era of scientific and technological dominance.' During the 2022 presidential election phase, scientific and technological promises focused on addressing the absence of a control tower.

At that time, candidate Yoon Seok-yeol from the People Power Party called for the establishment of a private-public scientific and technological committee directly under the president, while Lee Jae-myung from the Democratic Party of Korea, Ahn Cheol-soo from the People’s Party, and Sim Sang-jeong from the Justice Party advocated for the introduction of a vice minister for scientific technology.

During the 2017 presidential election, competition heated up over promises related to the fourth industrial revolution. The presidential candidates touted the fourth industrial revolution as a new growth engine for our economy, which has fallen into a 'low growth trap,' flooding the public with related plans.

The emergence of AI promises this time is not unrelated to the intensifying global competition for digital supremacy. Candidates are positioning themselves to seize the AI issue, which will become a national strategic asset. Additionally, amid the history of martial law and impeachment, with the public's political fatigue rising, this seems to be a strategy to capture the centrist vote through practical promises rather than ideological ones.

In the industry, there is an understanding that a large-scale investment itself is commendable. In fact, the government has pinpointed active budget support and investment as 'urgent issues.' Choi Byeong-ho, a professor at Korea University’s artificial intelligence research institute, stated, 'A single big tech company in the U.S. spends about 10 trillion won,' adding that since 'we are the 10th largest economy, an investment scale of over 100 trillion won is necessary for it to be persuasive. I don't think they overly misrepresented the scale itself.'

However, experts unanimously point out that failing to clearly present investment targets and lacking specificity and direction is a problem.

Professor Kang Seong-joo from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Sejong University remarked, 'Everyone is talking about creating funds and investing expenses, but no one mentions the power issues related to data centers or land issues necessary for implementing AI,' suggesting this indicates 'that they have not thought it through deeply.'

'Focusing solely on the 'large-scale investment' itself is also pointed out as a problem. Professor Lee Won-seok from the Department of Computer Engineering at Yonsei University stated, 'No matter how much we invest, we cannot catch up with the U.S. and China. This means that just doing this will not give us a chance.'

He said, 'Although our country did not develop the internet itself, it became an internet powerhouse by utilizing existing abundant data to create various programs.' He added that '(the presidential candidates) should not just say they will invest, but should find out what AI content they will compete with, yet there seems to be a lack of such contemplation.'