Stepping off a grueling 12-hour flight from San Francisco into Seoul, the future was immediately palpable. I breezed through an unmanned immigration checkpoint, where a machine seamlessly scanned my face and passport. On the subway ride home, passengers were engrossed in their phones, enjoying flawless 5G connectivity even underground, as platforms flashed with vibrant LED ads celebrating K-pop idols.
Emerging in Gangnam, a charming, cartoon-eyed robot patiently waited at a crosswalk, ready to deliver someone’s dinner. Internet cafés bustled with teenagers immersed in computer games, perhaps dreaming of becoming the next legendary pro gamer. Even the bus stops were interactive, featuring touch screens with real-time updates.
South Korea’s AI Embrace: A Unique Optimism
This widespread integration of technology is not just convenient; it reflects a deep national ethos. Seoul, a city I’ve watched evolve from a scrappy boomtown into a gleaming tech capital, is poised to take this even further with “AI bus stops” offering multilingual assistance.
In stark contrast to the growing skepticism in many Western nations, South Koreans exhibit remarkable optimism about artificial intelligence. Only 16% express more concern than excitement about AI, the lowest percentage among 25 countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center, compared to 50% of Americans who feel more worried.
This isn’t merely theoretical optimism; it’s rooted in daily experience. A majority of Koreans actively use AI, whether as a personal assistant or to streamline work tasks, according to surveys by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. As one of the world’s most wired nations, South Korea consistently serves as a testbed for groundbreaking technologies, from AI webcomics and virtual K-pop idols to even humanoid monks.
This appetite for experimentation extends to government agencies, which are early adopters, deploying AI textbooks in schools and eldercare robots in welfare centers. There’s a profound national conviction that embracing technology is fundamental to modernizing the country and securing its position on the global stage. Their fascination with AI is the latest manifestation of this enduring belief, fueling an urgency to stay ahead.
The Engine of Growth: Government-Backed AI Ambition
This pervasive techno-optimism is largely a result of South Korea’s national agenda, which positions AI as a primary engine for economic growth. As Chihyung Jeon, a professor of science and technology policy at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, explains, “The South Korean government has designated an AI-powered Fourth Industrial Revolution as the country’s path forward and aggressively promoted and invested in it.” Citizens have been consistently educated by the government about AI’s potential to create a better future.
South Korea’s journey from the ashes of the Korean War to an economic powerhouse has always been powered by technology. From manufacturing steel and ships in the 1970s to semiconductors in the 1980s, broadband in the 1990s, and smartphones in the 2000s, innovation has been the bedrock of its prosperity. Today, giants like Samsung and SK Hynix supply most of the world’s high-bandwidth memory chips, essential components for the cutting-edge Nvidia hardware that trains advanced AI models.
The nation’s economy now significantly revolves around these two semiconductor titans. In 2026, South Korea’s main equity index, Kospi, soared to record highs, driven by the surging share prices of both companies, each valued above a staggering $1 trillion. This deep integration illustrates the critical role technology plays in the country’s economic stability and growth.
Forging Ahead: Policies and Priorities
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has explicitly pledged to propel the country into the ranks of the “top three AI powers,” alongside the US and China. Following his inauguration in 2025, he established the Presidential Council on National AI Strategy, an initiative aimed at securing massive computing power and funding Korean companies to develop homegrown AI models.
The government further supports its semiconductor industry titans, including Samsung and SK Hynix, through substantial tax credits and low-interest financing. This strategic policy posture clearly prioritizes accelerating AI development, often placing it ahead of extensive safety considerations.
In 2024, South Korea’s legislature passed the AI Basic Act, one of the world’s first comprehensive AI laws, designed to foster AI development while establishing comparatively light-touch regulatory guardrails. This approach aligns with public sentiment: 70% of South Koreans believe advancing science and medicine through AI innovation is a greater priority than protecting industries through stringent regulation, according to the 2026 Stanford AI Index.
These concentrated efforts appear to be yielding significant results. The same Stanford AI Index ranked South Korea as having the third-largest number of notable AI models globally, based on criteria such as state-of-the-art advancements and high citation rates. For smaller nations like South Korea, AI represents a powerful opportunity to exert influence far beyond their geographical size.
The Human Side of AI: Challenges and Daily Life
However, this intense focus on economic development can sometimes overshadow critical reflection on AI’s broader societal impacts. As Professor Jeon notes, “Because the national agenda on AI prioritizes economic development, there isn’t much reflection on the social, political, ethical dimensions of the technology.” This was evident in 2025 when the South Korean government faced a fierce backlash for rolling out AI textbooks riddled with factual inaccuracies and data privacy risks, without prior pilot testing.
Despite the prevailing optimism, South Koreans also harbor genuine concerns, particularly regarding job displacement. When Hyundai announced plans in January to deploy Atlas humanoid robots in its car factories, the Hyundai Motor Group union protested vehemently, declaring, “Without labor-management agreement, not a single robot using new technology will be allowed to enter the workplace.” Sixty-four percent of South Koreans fear AI could displace human labor and exacerbate inequality, even though 52% believe it could also increase productivity.
One recent Friday night, at a pocha in Seoul’s Central Market, my cousin perfectly encapsulated this nuanced relationship with AI. A 29-year-old insurance agent hoping for a new job and a boyfriend, she confessed that asking ChatGPT about her saju, a traditional Korean fortune-telling practice, was her favorite pastime. She pulled out her phone and eagerly entered my birth date into the chatbot.
Trapped between unemployment and dead-end jobs, and often priced out of marriage and homeownership, 46% of South Koreans in their 20s have turned to chatbots for fortune-telling, according to a Korea Gallup survey. My cousin also leverages ChatGPT for stock trading tips, harboring big dreams of making significant returns on her investments.
Even with her fondness for the chatbot as a personal shaman and financial advisor, she fears losing her job to AI. Yet, she, along with her colleagues, continues to use ChatGPT feverishly at work, afraid of falling behind. As she succinctly put it, “I sometimes fear AI, but for now, it’s just so useful.”
Source: MIT Tech Review – AI
