Seoul’s free AI plan forces 80% of usage onto Korean models

South Korea will offer free, unlimited generative AI access to every citizen through three telecom-led consortia.

The rules say that at least 80% of the service has to run on Korean models, not on AI systems from the U.S. or China.

SK Telecom will route the assistant into Government24 and the PASS app

The Ministry of Science and ICT named SK Telecom, Kakao, and KT as the operators, with beta testing to start in the coming weeks.

The “AI for All” program covers all 51 million people. Each selected provider must obtain at least half of its service from South Korean sovereign foundation models.

Another 30% must be local models made by companies other than the operator, a clause that prevents any company from relying entirely on its own technology.

The ministry said foreign models are allowed only where it considers them minimally necessary, and the government will not subsidize that segment.

Seoul launched the competition in July, and the three winners were selected from six applicants. The lineup places the country’s two largest telecom operators alongside Kakao, whose messaging app is a default utility of Korean daily life.

Each consortium will ship a standalone app and embed the assistant into products people already use daily.

SK Telecom has been the most candid. The company’s A.X K2 foundation model and other Korean systems will drive its service, which will be delivered to users via an app, phone calls, and text messages. This method is designed for older people less familiar with apps.

The company said it will integrate the assistant with Government24 and the PASS identity app so that users can request 83 types of official certificates.

It said 20 organizations are directly involved, with another 11 signed up through memoranda of understanding for a total group of 31.

Seoul hands over 512 Nvidia B200 chips and no cost estimate

In 2026, Seoul will provide up to 512 of Nvidia’s top-of-the-line B200 graphics processors to the three groups and help with operating costs. There will be no token limits for AI usage.

The funding model changes in 2027. From then on, the government intends to pay the public-service costs from the national budget while requiring the operators to build their own sources of revenue to assure quality over time.

The ministry has not said what the overall cost of the program will be.

In July, Cryptopolitan reported that Seoul is building a sovereign wealth fund of over 20 trillion won, or ~$14 billion, for AI and strategic industries in 2027.

A June report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found the country has no major publicly known operational AI chip clusters, even as SK Hynix and Samsung supply the high-bandwidth memory inside much of the world’s AI hardware.

During Jensen Huang’s June visit to Seoul, Nvidia struck partnerships with SK Hynix, Naver, and SK Telecom. Cryptopolitan reported that SK Telecom plans to build a gigawatt-class AI cloud on Nvidia’s DSX system starting in 2027.

About two-thirds of South Koreans have tried AI, and about 23 million use generative tools regularly. Beta testing starts as early as the end of September, though SK Telecom now points to October for its own launch, with full rollout targeted before year-end.