South Korea refuses to slow AI development as global safety debate intensifies

South Korea Stakes Its Position in Global AI Development Race

South Korea has firmly rejected calls to decelerate AI development, with Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon declaring that the nation cannot afford to slow down its artificial intelligence progress1

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. The statement comes amid an intensifying global debate over whether the AI industry should pump the brakes on advancement to address AI safety concerns. Bae Kyung-hoon emphasized that Korea's position differs fundamentally from countries already leading the AI race, noting that a nation working to catch up while simultaneously building new markets faces entirely different circumstances than established leaders adjusting their pace2

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Balancing Speed with Responsible AI Model Development

While maintaining an aggressive stance on AI development, Bae Kyung-hoon stressed that South Korea's approach prioritizes what he called "speed accountability" over "speed control." The Science Minister advocated for responsible AI model development, emphasizing that efforts to ensure safety and trust must advance in tandem with technological progress1

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. This balanced approach reflects South Korea's recognition that the gap between nations with frontier AI models approaching human-level intelligence and those without could extend beyond technological competitiveness into critical areas including national security and economic growth. The government plans to continue implementation of the AI Basic Act without interruption while proceeding with its independent foundation model and Frontier AI model initiative2

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Industry Leaders Split on AI Governance and Safety

The debate over AI development speed has divided major industry figures. Executives from OpenAI, including Sam Altman, along with Anthropic's Dario Amodei and Elon Musk's xAI, have called for the industry to slow advancement due to potential threats the technology could pose to humanity2

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. However, Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg have rejected this messaging, instead calling on AI frontier labs to take greater responsibility for their models. President Donald Trump escalated the controversy by calling concerns about AI safety "a hoax" during a phone call with Jensen Huang at an industry summit this week1

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. This sharp divide underscores the complexity of AI governance as nations and companies navigate competing priorities of innovation, safety, and technological competitiveness in an increasingly high-stakes global race.