South Korea Launches Ambitious Project to Build Homegrown AI Model Rivaling ChatGPT

South Korea has officially joined the global race for artificial intelligence dominance, unveiling an unprecedented initiative to develop a domestic large language model on par with cutting-edge systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

On June 20, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) announced an open call for elite AI development teams to participate in the creation of a sovereign AI foundation model. The program aims to identify up to five teams, which will compete through phased evaluations before narrowing the field to two finalists. The selected teams will develop Korean-built AI models designed to meet or exceed 95% of the performance of the latest global models released within the past six months.

The government’s financial commitment to the project is significant. Each team will initially receive 500 high-performance GPUs, with the potential to scale up to more than 1,000 depending on evaluation outcomes. Until mid-2026, these resources will be provided via private GPU rentals, transitioning to government-owned infrastructure thereafter.

Data acquisition and processing will also be heavily subsidized. Each team is eligible for up to KRW 10 billion (approximately USD 7.2 million) annually for joint data purchases and an additional KRW 3–5 billion (USD 2.2–3.6 million) for data building and refinement. To attract global AI talent, the government will match up to KRW 2 billion (USD 1.4 million) per year in salaries and research funds for international researchers joining Korean efforts.

A cornerstone of the initiative is talent development. Participation of university and graduate students is mandatory, reinforcing the project’s long-term goal of fostering a skilled domestic AI workforce. Regardless of final team selection, educational support will continue through 2027.

The models developed under this initiative will be released as open source, with the government seeking to broadly disseminate the technology across public, economic, and social domains. “This project is about securing technological sovereignty in the AI era and building an inclusive ecosystem that benefits all,” said Sang-hoon Song, Director-General of Information and Communication Policy at the Ministry.

The application period for the project runs from June 20 to July 21. As the global competition for AI leadership intensifies, South Korea’s success in creating a state-of-the-art indigenous AI model could significantly shift the balance of power in the field.

Details regarding the application process and eligibility criteria can be found on the official Korean government policy briefing website.

Image source: Ideogram-generated