Industrial Research Unit · Straits Institute for Applied AI

Applied AI in South Korea

South Korea's deployments run through its big telecoms and its public institutions — KT rebuilding a bank's chatbot, the state picking SKT, KT and Kakao to build citizen AI — under the AI Action Plan 2026-2028.

AI readiness

0.73

Rank 16 of 171 — IMF AI Preparedness Index

Ecosystem

of 36 — Stanford AI Index vibrancy ranking

On the record

entries across 8 industries

National programme

2026

AI Action Plan 2026-2028

National programme

AI Action Plan 2026-2028

Announced 2026. Its pillars are innovation, digital infrastructure, adoption.

Services 57.2% · Industry 34.3% · Agriculture 1.5% of gross value added — World Bank, 2025

Kind

Role

16 entries

Government & Public Sector

The Ministry of Science and ICT has picked SKT, KT and Kakao to build AI for citizens.

DeploymentGovernment & Public Sector

South Korea11 Sep 2026

Korea's procurement agency runs seven AI tools its staff built

Public Procurement Service of Korea — Seven homegrown systems deliver AI in government procurement across South Korea's Public Procurement Service: procurement-law guidance, press release and remarks drafting, document automation, National Assembly task tracking, and workflow automation. A 26-person internal team built these AI-driven public sector automation tools since February 2026 via 'vibe coding', letting non-programmers specify requirements conversationally. Commissioner Baek Seung-bo unveiled the outcomes.

Procurement officernewswhoplus.com

DeploymentGovernment & Public Sector

South Korea28 Aug 2026

South Korea picks SKT, KT and Kakao to build citizen AI

Ministry of Science and ICT — South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT has picked SK Telecom, KT and Kakao from six applicants to lead consortia for citizen AI services: a general-purpose chatbot and AI agents for complex public administrative procedures. Agreements follow in September, nationwide launch targets end-2026 after beta tests, and the ministry will supply the three with 512 Nvidia B200 GPUs this year.

Citizen-services officerkoreajoongangdaily.com

DeploymentGovernment & Public Sector

South Korea23 Apr 2026

Korea's tax service opens a generative-AI chatbot to filers

National Tax Service of Korea — Korea's National Tax Service has offered taxpayers a generative AI tax chatbot since January 2026, first for VAT returns and year-end tax settlement, widening it from 1 May to comprehensive income tax filing and incentive claims. It sits beside an AI telephone consultation line and AI search in the Hometax portal, public-facing first. The NTS plans to extend AI from taxpayer services to tax-base management and audits across all tax administration.

Tax counsellorkorea.kr

RegulationGovernment & Public Sector

South Korea27 Jan 2026

South Korea's AI Basic Act takes effect with high-impact duties

Government of the Republic of Korea — South Korea's AI Basic Act, formally the Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of Trust, came into force on 22 January 2026. Generative AI operators must label AI-made content, and high-impact AI operators must summarise training data and meaningfully explain results, including the main criteria and principles behind them. Foreign AI firms with no Korean office must appoint a local agent past set revenue or daily-user thresholds, and administrative fines wait out a one-year grace period.

cooley.com

Evidence of adoptionGovernment & Public Sector

South Korea2026

South Korea invests ₩1.4 trillion in AI talent development

South Korea is spending ₩1.4 trillion (about US$960 million) on AI talent development in 2026: ₩900 billion for elementary and middle schools and ₩500 billion for high schools. AI-focused schools will expand from 730 to 2,000 by 2028, and vocational high-school departments offering AI courses from 20% to 50% by 2030.

koreaherald.com

Finance & Insurance

Woori Bank has rebuilt its chatbot around AI agents with KT, and the Korea Life Insurance Association now routes consumer complaints through AI.

DeploymentFinance & Insurance

South Korea7 Sep 2026

Life insurers' association hands consumer complaints to AI in Korea

Korea Life Insurance Association — The Korea Life Insurance Association has introduced AI complaint handling alongside AI review of advertising and internal regulations. Speech-to-text transcribes consumer–counsellor calls live, classifies each complaint type and gives counsellors supporting material mid-call. Three applications went live this month, and the association aims for 17 projects, including translation, contract review and legal review, during 2027.

Complaints counselloren.sedaily.com

DeploymentFinance & Insurance

South Korea31 Aug 2026

Woori Bank rebuilds its chatbot around AI agents with KT

Woori Bank — Woori Bank has hired KT to rebuild its chatbot and advisory bot as AI agents in banking, linked to its 'AI Banker' financial consultation service through KT's Agent Connector so customer context follows across channels. KT has started development, aiming at sharper intent recognition and AI in outbound calls and branch consultations.

Customer-service agenten.sedaily.com

DeploymentFinance & Insurance

South Korea25 Jan 2026

Bank of Korea puts its own AI system on the internal network

Bank of Korea — The Bank of Korea runs BOKI, an in-house AI system, on its internal business network, where staff dig through the bank's document archive, even reading tables and graphs from reports. Data never leaves the building, a design built with Naver Cloud after a late-2023 tie-up, reportedly making it the world's first central bank to build and run internal AI this way.

Central bank analystseoul.co.kr

Healthcare & Life Sciences

The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service now reads knee scans with AI inside the claims review itself.

DeploymentHealthcare & Life Sciences

South Korea1 Sep 2026

Korea's health insurance reviewer starts using AI to read knee scans

Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service — Korea's Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) has started AI claims review for knee osteoarthritis, applying AI-generated medical image readings. This is HIRA's first AI use within the review of claims, going beyond clinical decision support, and human reviewers keep responsibility for each final decision.

Claims reviewerkoreaittimes.com

DeploymentHealthcare & Life Sciences

South Korea29 May 2026

Korea says AI will handle hospital referrals in three regions

Ministry of Health and Welfare — Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare will introduce AI patient referral and return in hospitals during the latter half of the year, beginning with pilots in Seoul and Gyeonggi, Gangwon and South Jeolla. Linking AI directly to each hospital's picture archiving and electronic medical record systems will automate sending patients onward and back where care happens. The broader Healthcare AI Transformation Sprint programme begins in June.

Hospital doctornewsis.com

Transport & Logistics

CJ Logistics has put two humanoid robots on a live packing line, its first use of them in an actual logistics process.

DeploymentTransport & Logistics

South Korea11 Sep 2026

Hanjin's AI cameras cut safety violations 60% across 20 terminals

Hanjin — Major safety breaches have fallen roughly 60% at Hanjin Logistics sites running AI Safety Guardian, an AI camera system for warehouse safety now active across about 20 logistics terminals. CCTV feeds are scanned for staff crossing conveyor belts, vehicles flouting site rules, cars blocking pedestrian walkways and unworn hard hats; violations trigger flashing lights, voice warnings and a text alert to safety managers, delivering surveillance-based hazard alerts in real time. Ten locations near greater Seoul launched first, in late July, before expansion into Chungcheong, Gangwon and other outlying regions.

Logistics safety manageren.sedaily.com

DeploymentTransport & Logistics

South Korea3 Sep 2026

CJ Logistics puts humanoid robots on a live packing line

CJ Logistics — CJ Logistics has deployed a pair of dual-arm humanoid robots for live packing at the Olive Young logistics centre in Yangji, Yongin, marking its debut for humanoid robots in logistics. The dual-arm machines slot cushioning into boxes as orders are packed, and the company plans to extend them to inspection, sorting and picking while feeding site data back into training their control models.

Warehouse packerkoreatimes.co.kr

Manufacturing, Energy & Resources

DeploymentManufacturing, Energy & Resources

South Korea13 Sep 2026

LG Display staff build 450 AI projects, automating 190 tasks

LG Display — AX SQUAD, LG Display's scheme for turning ordinary staff into AI builders, has already produced roughly 450 applications tackling problems workers spot in their own jobs. Around 190 of those live inside manufacturing alone, covering defect classification plus an optical simulation tool still being built and a human resources survey system, showing how far employee-built AI applications have spread beyond IT departments. Reach will grow further from the second half of 2026, when the South Korean firm folds in procurement, supply chain, customer support, finance, management, sales and marketing, extending workplace AI automation well past its original manufacturing and development base.

Production engineeren.sedaily.com

Marketing & Creative

The Fair Trade Commission requires advertisers to substantiate AI performance claims before they run.

RegulationMarketing & Creative

South Korea2 Sep 2026

Korea makes advertisers prove AI performance claims before they run

Korea Fair Trade Commission — The Korea Fair Trade Commission's amended notice on substantiating labelling and advertising claims took effect on 3 September 2026, requiring prior substantiation for AI advertising claims and other new-technology claims about products. The extension for filing substantiation material shrinks from 30 days to 15, granted only on narrower grounds such as receivership, a merger, natural disaster or seized records. Firms failing to file can be ordered to pull the advertisement.

koit.co.kr

Media, Telecom & Entertainment

KT says its systems cut about 30 seconds from entry checks at Suwon KT Wiz Park.

DeploymentMedia, Telecom & Entertainment

South Korea6 Sep 2026

KT's AI cuts entry queues at Suwon KT Wiz Park

KT — KT now runs AI stadium operations daily at Suwon KT Wiz Park, from facial-recognition entry and synthetic-voice announcements to motion-recognition fan cameras and live translation for foreign spectators. KT says entry, previously 50 to 60 seconds a person with bag checks, is about 30 seconds faster, more than halving delays. Foreign spectators' attendance share rose 57% in the first half against a year earlier after translation launched.

Stadium operations staffen.sedaily.com

Retail & Consumer

Lotte Department Store's 'Brand AI' analyses 4,000 brands.

DeploymentRetail & Consumer

South Korea26 Aug 2026

Lotte Department Store deploys 'Brand AI' to analyse 4,000 brands

Lotte Department Store — Lotte Department Store's in-house 'Brand AI' analyses more than 4,000 brands for AI merchandising strategy and emerging-brand scouting, the company says. Launched in late July 2026, it processes the data buyers need into visuals, with a natural-language chatbot due in the second half of 2026.

Merchandiseren.sedaily.com

Latest on the record

DeploymentLG Display staff build 450 AI projects, automating 190 tasksManufacturing, Energy & Resources13 Sep 2026en.sedaily.com
DeploymentKorea's procurement agency runs seven AI tools its staff builtGovernment & Public Sector11 Sep 2026newswhoplus.com
DeploymentHanjin's AI cameras cut safety violations 60% across 20 terminalsTransport & Logistics11 Sep 2026en.sedaily.com
DeploymentLife insurers' association hands consumer complaints to AI in KoreaFinance & Insurance7 Sep 2026en.sedaily.com
DeploymentKT's AI cuts entry queues at Suwon KT Wiz ParkMedia, Telecom & Entertainment6 Sep 2026en.sedaily.com
DeploymentCJ Logistics puts humanoid robots on a live packing lineTransport & Logistics3 Sep 2026koreatimes.co.kr
RegulationKorea makes advertisers prove AI performance claims before they runMarketing & Creative2 Sep 2026koit.co.kr
DeploymentKorea's health insurance reviewer starts using AI to read knee scansHealthcare & Life Sciences1 Sep 2026koreaittimes.com
DeploymentWoori Bank rebuilds its chatbot around AI agents with KTFinance & Insurance31 Aug 2026en.sedaily.com
DeploymentSouth Korea picks SKT, KT and Kakao to build citizen AIGovernment & Public Sector28 Aug 2026koreajoongangdaily.com

Method and sources

Every entry on this page is a named organisation putting AI to work in a real job, taken from the State of Applied AI record. Each one is traced to the report it came from and dated, and where a figure is the organisation’s own the entry says so rather than presenting it as an independent result. Readiness, ecosystem and policy figures, where shown, are attributed on the card to the body that published them.

The record is maintained continuously by the Industrial Research Unit of the Straits Institute for Applied AI: entries are added as they are found and verified, not on a schedule, and nothing is published without an open source behind it. It currently holds 1114 entries across 249 countries.