Issue Korea needs linked AI policy that connects development, adoption and diffusion with feedback

Summary

Korea has policies for each stage of AI development, use and diffusion, but the essay finds the links between them weak. Large investments flow into development while the base for applying results in industry remains thin, and a further gap separates AI from services citizens can actually feel. To become an AI G3 country, Korea should design from the outset a structure through which society as a whole absorbs AI, reflecting industry demand, field data and ethics issues already at the R&D stage. Support should cover the transition costs and skills shortages firms face when deploying vertical and physical AI, with particular attention to barriers facing SMEs, while the public sector leads by example. New data and user experience gained in diffusion should flow back into development so that the chain works as one linked policy for 'AI for everyone'.