South Korea keeps AI foundation model project, splits it into two tracks

South Korea's science ministry said its independent AI foundation model project, known as Dokpamo, is not being discontinued but will be restructured into two tracks, Yonhap reported. Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT Ryu Je-myung told an October 2 briefing at NIA's Seoul office that the project would continue while a separate frontier AI model development programme runs in parallel, according to both Yonhap and Seoul Economic Daily. [ 1 , 2 ]

Under the plan, one track is to break through technical limits and secure top-tier performance, while the other is to widen the ecosystem so that models are used more widely in industry, Ryu said. He said the ministry collected views from companies and experts in May and June after the April release of the global model “Mythos Preview”, which Seoul Economic Daily identified as Anthropic's. The newspaper quoted Ryu saying that global AI technology is advancing exponentially and that the project should not stay on its current trajectory. [ 1 , 2 ]

Ryu said next year's government budget bill includes a 4.7 trillion won investment-type project for frontier AI model development. Seoul Economic Daily reported that the government had previously said it would put 4.7 trillion won of the budget into frontier AI and provide focused support including 10,000 of Nvidia's Vera Rubin GPUs and data, replacing the practice of giving participating companies 1,000 GPUs each. [ 1 , 2 ]

The third evaluation will rank the current participants and select two companies, Ryu said. Seoul Economic Daily said the original plan to pick two teams at the third evaluation in February and continue fourth-round support is being revised. Ryu said the two remaining companies' support could change in form and scale next year, and that incentives for them are under discussion given questions about fairness. [ 1 , 2 ]

Companies that do not join the frontier AI project will receive separate government support under the industrial diffusion track, Ryu said, adding that the government aims to select the frontier developer through an open call and evaluation using an investment structure so that results reach the public, and that the programme is not meant only for large conglomerates with capital but for a structure involving several companies, universities and research teams. Seoul Economic Daily reported that the call is due around the end of the year, after the budget passes the National Assembly, with frontier AI development to begin as early as March. [ 2 ]

Ryu said many details are not yet confirmed, including whether a special purpose company would be established and whether overseas investment would be accepted, Yonhap reported. He acknowledged criticism that the competition format stigmatises eliminated companies, saying the contest produced far greater results than ordinary grant programmes and that last year's call for proposals had already stated that support could be adjusted or halted depending on policy and budget conditions. [ 1 ]