Issue Four policy tasks for Korea's shift to physical-AI-based autonomous manufacturing

Summary

The author proposes four linked policy tasks for Korea's transition to autonomous manufacturing. First, domestic plants should become mother factories that validate innovations first and turn the results into standards and guidelines, supported by test beds, stage-by-stage liability guidelines, joint validation platforms and wider regulatory sandboxes. Second, data policy should move from one-way collection to voluntary sharing, rewarding firms that share manufacturing data with reduced AI adoption costs or bonus points in public procurement. Third, Korea needs bilingual engineers who combine process knowledge with AI skills, nurtured through industry-linked AI tracks, firm-university upskilling and field-project R&D. Fourth, validated domestic results and safety guidelines should be fed into ISO and IEC proposals while a physical AI safety certification is introduced preemptively. Standards are described as a market barrier and export infrastructure as powerful as technology itself.