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South Korea's Interior Ministry Moves to Publish Public-Sector AI Services

South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety has enacted rules requiring 1,091 public bodies to disclose the AI services they use, with the first list due in December.

Government officials reviewing a digital list of AI services in a modern public administration office.
Image: 미래를 보는 창 - 전자신문
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South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety is speeding up the legal groundwork for AI in the public sector. It has enacted and put into force a regulation on managing and publishing lists of AI-based services, giving practical shape to the country's new public AI law.

The law, formally the Act on Promoting AI- and Data-Based Administration, amends the earlier data-driven administration act and took effect on August 28. It covers shared AI infrastructure, training, management of training data, ethics standards and impact assessments, aiming both to promote AI use and to secure public trust.

Annual disclosure for 1,091 bodies

Under the new rule, each organization must publish the state of its AI services at the end of every year. The 1,091 bodies covered include central ministries, provincial and municipal governments, education offices and public institutions. The survey will cover services they developed themselves as well as those they bought or subscribed to. In December, agencies are due to disclose service lists including the names of the AI models they use, along with how the AI was introduced and is operated.

The ministry expects the regular disclosure to raise transparency and accountability, and to help agencies spot similar services and consider sharing them.

More rules in the pipeline

The ministry is also preparing follow-up measures, including a council of AI officers, ethics policies for each agency, criteria for training contractors and a public AI and data association. A guideline on AI-assisted in-house development by public employees is to be announced for public comment this month.

An AI impact assessment system is targeted to start on February 28 next year. Except in limited cases, it will require agencies to assess the effect on citizens' fundamental rights before deploying AI and to publish the results. The ministry plans to issue the notice and a guidebook by January.

Earlier, in June, it issued a public-sector AI adoption guide covering five stages: planning, budgeting, contracting, building and operation. In October it released public-sector AI ethics standards. A ministry official said the aim is to promote AI use while ensuring safety and reliability and protecting citizens' rights.

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Tags:south koreapublic sector aiai regulationministry of interior and safetyai impact assessment

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