South Korea plans to provide free generative AI services to all citizens. The technology will help people with everyday tasks such as booking medical appointments, finding homes and handling taxes. The program is also expected to make local AI services easier to access and increase the government’s role in their daily use.
The government’s “AI for All” program will begin beta testing in September, with a wider launch planned later this year. On Friday, Seoul selected three technology groups to provide the services. The groups are led by the country’s two largest telecommunications companies and the company behind Kakao, a popular consumer platform in South Korea.
The AI services will be connected to government systems rather than operating only as separate chatbots. People will be able to use them to book doctor appointments, search for apartments and get help with taxes. Small businesses will be able to calculate taxes and check whether they qualify for government support, while parents will receive recommendations for educational content.
Each group plans to launch its own AI app and add generative AI features to its existing products. Users will have unlimited access to the services without token limits under the government-supported plans.
Seoul will also provide some of the computing power needed to operate the services. The government plans to provide up to 512 Nvidia B200 chips to the three groups and help cover their operating costs. The Ministry of Science and ICT has not disclosed the total cost of the program.
The project is part of South Korea’s efforts to strengthen its domestic AI industry and reduce its dependence on systems from the United States and China. The government hopes that offering high-quality AI services for free will encourage more people to use locally developed products.
South Korea already has a large market for generative AI. A government survey earlier this year found that about one in four South Koreans pay for AI services. By comparison, a PNC Bank survey found that only about 2% of Americans do. Seoul estimates that more than 20 million people in South Korea use free generative AI tools.
The rollout comes as South Korea significantly increases its spending on AI. President Lee Jae Myung’s administration has allocated about 10 trillion won, or $7.2 billion, for AI spending in 2026. That is three times the amount allocated the previous year.
For South Korea, the project will test whether generative AI can become part of the country’s basic digital infrastructure. Its success will depend on whether people consider the systems reliable enough for everyday use.
The government has not set a specific target for how many people should use the new service.
