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South Korea's AI Sovereignty Push Faces Setbacks Amid Global Competition
Importance: 85/1005 Sources
Why It Matters
South Korea's experience underscores the inherent difficulties and strategic trade-offs nations face in building independent AI capabilities, particularly when stringent nationalistic development rules clash with practical implementation, influencing its long-term global standing and technological autonomy.
Key Intelligence
- ■South Korea is aggressively pursuing 'AI sovereignty' with initiatives like an 'AI Squid Game' to enhance its competitiveness against global tech leaders.
- ■The national effort has encountered hurdles, particularly a strict 'from scratch' rule that led to Naver Cloud failing to qualify in the AI foundation model selection process.
- ■This 'from scratch' requirement is proving to be a significant challenge for domestic companies, impacting the progress of South Korea's independent AI development.
- ■The push for AI sovereignty is a global trend, with countries like the UAE and India also actively developing strategies to ensure national control and capabilities in artificial intelligence.
Source Coverage
Google News - AI & Models
1/20/2026Korea’s sovereign AI push stumbles over ‘from scratch’ rule - The Korea Herald
Google News - AI & Models
1/19/2026South Korea kicks off ‘AI Squid Game’ in bid to compete with U.S. and China - The Japan Times
Google News - AI & Models
1/20/2026Naver Cloud fails South Korea's AI foundation model selection - digitimes
Google News - AI & Models
1/20/2026Abu Dhabi's G42 unveils new operating model to deploy AI sovereignty - thenationalnews.com
Google News - AI & Models
1/20/2026