The Ministry of Science and ICT holds a major debate on AI ethics principles
3 values and 7 principles
Will collect opinions and announce them this month
Sharing principles with international organizations such as the OECD and UNESCO
사진 확대 On the 14th, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Information and Communication Policy Institute (KISDI) are taking commemorative photos after a major debate on “Korea’s Artificial Intelligence Ethics Principles” at the President Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Reporter Park Sung-bae
The government will reorganize AI ethics principles in line with the spread of new technologies such as AI and physical AI. Rather than looking at AI only as a subject of regulation, the focus was on preparing autonomous norms that suppliers and users must follow together on the premise that it has already become an essential infrastructure for society.
On the 14th, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Institute for Information and Communication Policy (KISDI) held a major debate on the “Korea’s Artificial Intelligence Ethics Principles” at the President Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, and unveiled the revision of the current ethical principles. The government plans to enact and announce ethical principles this month, reflecting the opinions of industry, civil society, and academia.
This ethical principle is to reorganize the ‘artificial intelligence ethics standards’ established in 2020 to suit the recent AI environment. It is judged that a new standard is needed as the basic law on AI was implemented this year and the emergence of agentic AI that performs tasks on its own beyond Generative AI and physical AI that operates in real space.
Since the end of last year, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Information and Communication Policy Institute have formed a working group and an advisory group to prepare ethical principles. After the first draft was released in May, opinions were collected from industry, civic groups, academia, related ministries, and ordinary citizens. The revision of the ethical principles was prepared by reflecting 116 written opinions received in the process.
Choi Woo-seok, head of the artificial intelligence safety trust support division at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said on the same day, “This artificial intelligence ethics principle presents principles that each subject must follow for society’s sustainability, presupposing that AI is an essential infrastructure.” Rather than preventing the use of AI itself, the focus was on how to use technology to reduce social conflicts and increase benefits.
The ethical principles proposed by the government consist of three values and seven principles. The three values are human dignity, the public good of society, and human sustainability. The seven principles to implement this were anthropocentricity, privacy protection, fairness and inclusion, accountability, safety, reliability, and transparency.
Humanity means respecting a person’s judgment and choices when implementing and using AI. Privacy protection requires the minimum use of personal information and respect for the right to self-determination of personal information. In terms of fairness and inclusion, it emphasized prevention of bias and ensuring the access and use of AI for the vulnerable.
In particular, the reorganization emphasized the role of users as well as AI providers. It is based on the judgment that the safety and reliability of the AI ecosystem may vary depending on how the Generative AI spreads throughout daily life and work. Chief Choi explained, “Artificial intelligence ethics principles are basically something that suppliers and users should consider together to reduce conflicts caused by AI.”
The government also emphasized the need to distinguish ethical principles from legal regulations. Ethical principles are not hard norms with the same coercion as the AI Basic Law, but soft norms that companies and users follow autonomously. Manager Choi said, “We are not creating ethical principles to regulate, but if the principles are well followed, there will be no need to introduce additional regulations.”
After the enactment of the ethical principles, follow-up measures that can be used in the actual field will also be prepared. The government plans to create a commentary that explains the purpose and application method of the principle to all exemplary subjects, focusing on cases. Self-check tables reflecting the characteristics of each field are distributed to companies so that they can check the level of implementation of ethical principles on their own.
It will also produce customized AI ethics education textbooks for the general public and students. It will expand education for each subject by utilizing schools at all levels, AI ethics communication channels, and AI digital learning centers. It plans to increase domestic AI literacy education in cooperation with global companies and promote ethical principles to foreign countries such as Southeast Asia. It shares principles with international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UNESCO (UNESCO) and also uses them to discuss international AI governance.
Kim Kyung-man, head of the artificial intelligence policy office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “Korea’s artificial intelligence ethics principles are a standard that we should all keep together for a basic AI society,” adding, “We will faithfully reflect the opinions raised at this forum to enact ethical principles and support all subjects, including the government, companies, and citizens, to practice them in their respective positions.”
