South Korea selects telecom providers to offer free nationwide AI

South Korea is preparing to roll out free artificial intelligence services to its entire population before the year concludes. As reported by The Korea Times, the Ministry of Science and ICT selected three corporate groups led by SK Telecom, KT, and Kakao to operate the initiative. The government will supply these groups with 512 advanced Nvidia B200 processors in 2026 to help power local computing infrastructure, followed by financial subsidies beginning in 2027.

For everyday citizens, this program means access to digital assistants, public sector tools, and conversational chatbots integrated directly into popular local platforms like KakaoTalk and the Daum web portal. Rather than relying solely on single tech companies, the participating groups must weave together multiple domestic algorithms, including models from LG AI Research and Upstage. This design aims to ensure that South Korea builds a resilient digital ecosystem tailored specifically to its native language and local cultural context.

Notably absent from the project is Naver, the country's leading internet search platform. According to reporting from The Korea Times, Naver declined to participate due to concerns over tight scheduling demands and mandatory sharing with external developers, opting instead to focus on its existing commercial platforms.

Providing nationwide compute access for free creates an unprecedented trial for state supported artificial intelligence deployment. However, it remains questionable whether government subsidized public tools can continuously keep pace with rapid global innovations while balancing the immense energy costs required to run millions of complex queries every day.