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The future of bureaucracy in the age of AI

Published: 24 Feb. 2025, 00:02

Choi Chang-yong

The author, a professor at Seoul National University's Graduate School of Public Administration, is an advisory board member of the JoongAng Ilbo Reset Korea campaign.

In the mid-1970s, about a decade after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the United States, many political scientists studied what they called the “irreversible conditions of democracy.” Their research suggested that once free elections were established and a country reached a certain income level — specifically, a per capita GDP of $15,000 — democracy would become consolidated and irreversible.

Half a century later, however, in 2025, two nations once considered models of democracy — the United States and South Korea — find themselves facing deep democratic crises, despite their economic success and technological advancements.

Beyond the political turmoil, another major upheaval looms on the horizon — government reform and bureaucratic transformation. While trade wars and tariff policies dominated discussions during Donald Trump’s presidency, an even more profound shift in governance is unfolding.

Applicants head to testing sites to take the first round of exams to become grade 5 civil servants or diplomats in March 2023, in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. [THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT]

Shortly after Trump’s election, The Economist ran a cover story featuring Elon Musk with the headline “Disrupter-in-Chief,” predicting the radical restructuring of government under a newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The DOGE, a direct White House entity, was tasked with streamlining governance. Having dealt with extensive regulations in space exploration and Tesla’s operations, Musk had become convinced that government itself was an obstacle to growth.

Now, the Trump administration is poised to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget — which currently stands at $7 trillion — and is demanding justifications for the 90,000 pages of federal regulations that govern the country.

The Heritage Foundation’s "Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Project" (2023), affiliated with the "Project 2025" political initiative, laid out a blueprint for dismantling the administrative state. The Trump administration has pledged to abolish federal agencies that hinder decentralization and privatization and plans to reinstate "Schedule F," an executive order that would allow the president to dismiss career bureaucrats at will — effectively eroding civil service protections.

A key indicator of this aggressive reform agenda is the recent decision to shut down USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, which has been a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for over 60 years. This move signals that government restructuring will be deep and far-reaching.

Meanwhile, Yuval Noah Harari has been issuing warnings about the future, particularly about how AI will reshape bureaucracy. With the rise of ChatGPT and other AI technologies, he argues that AI will soon replace human bureaucrats in their role as intermediaries between government and society.

AI will collect policy data, analyze patterns and ultimately formulate more precise policies than humans. This will lead to the emergence of a “nonorganic digital bureaucracy," which could render traditional bureaucratic concepts like expertise, commitment, political neutrality and job security obsolete — mere relics to be studied in public administration textbooks.

A new era of government overhaul
Public sector reform was a major political issue during the Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan administrations, ushering in the era of neoliberalism. Concepts like efficiency, competition and performance evaluation, once exclusive to private corporations, were introduced into the public sector, fundamentally challenging the fortress of bureaucracy for the first time since the birth of the modern state.

Yet even then, these reforms only disrupted bureaucracies run by human beings — they did not herald a new age where nonhuman entities would take control.

Now, let’s turn our eyes to Korea in 2025.

Following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law last year, the political landscape has grown so turbulent that predicting the near future seems impossible.

A Cabinet meeting takes place at the government complex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Dec. 17, 2024 [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Beyond Korea’s internal chaos, the world is engaged in high-stakes battles over tariffs, trade and technological supremacy. Regardless of political motives, global powers are moving forward with government overhauls aimed at boosting national competitiveness.

The era of government monopolies and asymmetrical information flows between bureaucrats, citizens, businesses and consumers is coming to an end.

For Korea to navigate this new reality, it must urgently formulate a national strategy that transcends partisan divides and establish an implementation body to drive it forward.

The transformation of government, bureaucracy and state power is no longer a distant theoretical discussion — it is happening now.

Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.