Norway and China have restricted access to artificial intelligence (AI) due to concerns about the negative impact of relying too heavily on it. But the South Korean government will provide unlimited free access to AI chatbots to all citizens in the country.
Through the “AI for Everyone” initiative, the Korean government wants to make AI a public utility for everyone without requiring a subscription like Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT. The initiative was announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT on July 13 with a Beta phase to begin at the end of September before being fully launched by the end of 2026.
The entire project will be developed by 2 or 3 local private companies, who are required to use local AI models. Among the features that users will be able to access later are government AI agents that help citizens access government services and fill out application forms.
The South Korean government has committed to providing up to 512 Nvidia B200 GPUs for this project, but the selected companies will also have to make their own investments. There is also a requirement that 50% of the services must use a South Korean base model that meets the ministry's standards. If the model is self-developed, 30% of the components must come from domestic AI companies.
By ensuring that local companies and local models are used, this project is also an effort to develop South Korea's own AI industry. At the same time, it will reduce dependence on foreign platforms that can suddenly change or block access, as happened with Claude Fable 5 recently.
