Experts from industry and academia discussed what strategies and tasks Korea should pursue to gain the initiative in the era of artificial intelligence (AI). They collectively noted, "Now that AI technology is rapidly spreading throughout daily life and industry, it is crucial for the government and the private sector to expedite strategic responses."
At the 2025 Science Journalists Conference held on the 16th at the Korea Science and Technology Center in Gangnam, Seoul, practical suggestions for Korea to secure leadership in areas such as AI semiconductors, talent ecosystems, and physical AI were shared.
Sung-Hyun Park, CEO of Rebellions, explained the structure and future of the AI semiconductor industry, stating, "AI semiconductors are divided into training and inference sectors, and the areas where we actually feel AI are in inference." He noted that training is primarily conducted by global corporations, while inference is applied to various services and devices, forming a much broader and multidimensional market.
Park stated, "As AI moves beyond being limited to chatbots and delves deeper into real life, the traffic for inference will increase explosively, which will lead to demand for inference semiconductors," adding that "this market could present opportunities for Korean startups."
He also explained the reality that significant funding is needed to maintain competitiveness in this market. Park mentioned, "As trends continue to change, long-term research and development (R&D) plans may fall behind," and emphasized that "R&D should be solvable by private capital, while the government should help to validate the products and create actual demand. Just as the memory semiconductor sector grew, policy funding support is essential in this area."
Professor Seong-Ro Yoon of Seoul National University emphasized that the core of the AI ecosystem is ultimately people. He pointed out, "While data, infrastructure, and models are important, it is ultimately people who create all of these things," highlighting that "how we nurture talent determines the success or failure of the ecosystem."
He continued, "Currently, AI graduate schools and AI convergence innovation graduate schools are emerging in Korea, but due to a lack of research funds, they cannot purchase GPUs or have no space even if they do, and there are often cases where even if there is space, there is insufficient electricity," adding that "this requires more than just a funding problem; it necessitates consistency and flexibility in policy."
He added, "Considering the characteristics of the AI industry, where technology changes every five weeks, the current system that responds with policies on a five-year cycle does not align with reality," and stated that "it is necessary to integrate AI into industry and grow it along with appropriate global cooperation."
Yoo Won-pil, director of the AI Creative Research Institute at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), and Professor Kyung-Jun Park of the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) proposed 'physical AI' as the next paradigm for the AI industry. Professor Park explained, "Physical AI goes beyond mere calculation; it merges with hardware to perceive, judge, and interact with the physical world," adding that "both software and hardware must operate, making validation and safety, along with cultivating convergence talent, essential."
Director Yoo emphasized, "For robot control, lidar, tactile, and high-resolution visual data are needed, but collecting and refining this data incurs significant expenses and time." He noted that "due to the varying shapes and operation methods of each robot, standardizing data is challenging, and creating a system that can be commonly used is a globally unresolved issue," adding that "to effectively utilize this data, constructing a national data hub and standardization strategy is necessary."
The second session continued with presentations and discussions on the topic of 'climate crisis and science communication.' Kang Chan-soo, former environmental journalist for the JoongAng Ilbo and co-representative of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements, stated, "Current climate reporting shows awareness of the issues but lacks solutions, which can lead to guilt or helplessness," emphasizing that "solution journalism that experiments with solutions to problems and reports on the results and limitations in a balanced manner is important."
Yoon Ji-ho, media director of the energy and climate policy think tank 'Next,' emphasized, "As climate response technologies such as renewable energy, offshore wind, and power grids become more specialized and complex, the capabilities of journalists to properly understand and interpret these must be elevated," stressing the need to expand perspectives through training programs.