Korea needs a robust AI ecosystem

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Korea needs a robust AI ecosystem

Since the unveiling of China’s DeepSeek AI model, Korean media has published a flurry of follow-up reports contrasting China’s strengths with Korea’s glaring shortcomings.
 
The JoongAng Ilbo’s DeepSeek Shock series traced China’s AI rise back to 2014, when the Chinese government launched a nationwide innovation and startup policy.
 
DeepSeek is merely one of more than 4,700 AI companies in China, and both domestic and international experts caution that China has even more powerful and promising AI firms that have yet to make global headlines.
 
China accounted for a staggering 70 percent of all generative AI-related patent applications over the past decade — a statistic that should serve as a wake-up call for Korea. But even more troubling is the talent disparity.
 
According to Global AI Talent Tracker, a think tank affiliated with the University of Chicago, 47 percent of the world’s top 20 percent AI researchers now work in China — far surpassing the United States, which ranks second at just 18 percent.
 
Once, the brightest minds in AI flocked to America, but now China has become an expansive playground for young AI researchers.
 
Meanwhile, Korea has been categorized as an AI “brain drain” country in reports from the OECD and Stanford University. Korea has been notoriously hostile to tech innovation, with Uber forced to exit the market and homegrown mobility startup TADA shut down by regulatory crackdowns.
 
The situation is just as bleak when it comes to attracting foreign talent.
 
Last year, the Ministry of Justice introduced the “E-7-S Advanced Talent Visa” to attract AI, semiconductor and aerospace professionals from abroad. Yet according to JoongAng Ilbo’s investigation, only 38 experts are currently residing in Korea under this program — a shocking failure in global recruitment.
 
While Korea loses its own AI talent to foreign opportunities, foreign experts dismiss Korea due to a lack of research autonomy and infrastructure.
 
Even domestically, Korea faces severe challenges in AI talent development.
 
China’s AI boom has been driven by homegrown talent, not foreign-trained engineers. The country produces 1.5 million engineering graduates annually, and entire villages in Guangdong province, where DeepSeek’s founder Liang Wenfeng was born, celebrate the power of education in changing one’s destiny.
 
A popular saying in China captures this national pride: Half of China’s brightest students are at Tsinghua University, and half of Tsinghua’s brightest are in Yao Class, the elite training ground for AI, quantum information and computer science.
 
Korea, in contrast, faces a catastrophic shortage of STEM students — largely due to a national obsession with medical school admissions, which has drained talent from engineering and science programs. Many universities struggle to even fill their engineering seats, raising serious concerns about Korea’s future competitiveness in AI.
 
On Tuesday, Kakao announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI, while Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met to discuss AI collaboration.
 
Such global partnerships between Korean conglomerates and AI powerhouses are valuable, but they alone will not solve Korea’s AI crisis.
 
What Korea desperately needs is a robust AI ecosystem — and that starts with cultivating top-tier talent. Without a fundamental overhaul of Korea’s incentive systems, where STEM graduates are properly valued and respected, and without regulatory reforms to foster a pro-innovation environment, the Korean government’s ambition of becoming a top-three AI powerhouse will remain a pipe dream. 
 
Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
 
 
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