Ministry of Science and ICT Announces ‘AI+S&T Activation Plan’
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Cho Seung-han = The government is set to develop specialized artificial intelligence (AI) models in eight promising technology fields as part of efforts to respond to the paradigm shift in research and development (R&D) using AI.
On the 12th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced an ‘AI+S&T (Science & Technology) Activation Plan’ during a joint meeting of related ministers on national issues, economic affairs, and industrial competitiveness enhancement.
This plan has been prepared in response to the continual innovation in the scientific and technological fields using AI, such as AI-assisted protein structure research winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year. It aims to expand AI usage throughout science and technology in Korea.
Instead of undergoing numerous experimental trial and error in material development, the plan seeks to apply approaches like discovering new material structures or properties through AI reverse engineering or increasing simulation speeds across science and technology.
Initially, the government plans to develop AI models specialized in a total of eight areas, including existing fields where AI is used, such as innovative drugs and next-generation materials. The additional fields include semiconductors, secondary batteries, space, eco-friendly technologies, future energy, and quantum computing.
The developed models will aid in performing high-level research, such as exploring new structures or properties, conducting repetitive experiments, or analyzing large datasets.
The plan also includes the promotion of next-generation AI-based technologies specialized in creating new scientific and technological knowledge, such as supercomputing and principle elucidation.
AI will also be applied to R&D in public safety fields, such as safe reactor operation, climate change prediction, and disaster/crime prevention.
To support these efforts, the government will expand specialized computing resources and high-quality data, while also training experts in each field.
In addition to the 6th-generation supercomputer with a capacity of 600 petaflops (PF, 1,000 trillion operations per second) expected to be established within the year, a 40PF infrastructure specialized for small-scale calculations will also be established.
A system will be built for domestic industry-academic researchers to share and utilize research data and AI models, while high-quality data will be expanded, particularly in the materials and bio fields, centered on existing data platforms.
Researchers in each field will be trained to acquire AI utilization skills, and AI will be introduced to overall research management administration.
Yu Sang-im, Minister of Science and ICT, stated, “At a time when inter-country competition surrounding science and technology is intensifying, the paradigm shift towards AI-utilized R&D is a golden opportunity to innovatively enhance Korea’s scientific and technological research capabilities using AI technology.” He added, “Based on this strategy, we will secure differentiated original technological competitiveness and lead future new industries by embedding AI in research environments.”