Science ministry launches AI service contest with 26 million won prizes

The science ministry said it is opening an AI service competition with 26 million won ($18,372) in prizes.

Applications for the Everyone's AI Lab AI Service Competition are open through Sept. 6 to South Korean nationals aged 15 or older, who may apply individually or in teams of up to four. The ministry is holding the contest with the National Information Society Agency. Entrants may submit proposals for AI services that address personal, regional or social issues through contest.aitestbed.kr.

The contest is part of the Everyone's AI Growth Ladder project, launched Aug. 3, which offers people opportunities to learn and experience AI. "We hope this contest will put the Everyone's AI Growth Ladder project into practice. It runs from learning to development, field testing and new value creation," Lee Do-gyu, director general for information and communications policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said. "We also hope innovative challenges by participants, including young people, will become actual services and expand into startups and commercialization."

Judges will assess submitted plans on problem definition and need, creativity and appropriateness of AI use, and feasibility and completeness when choosing 50 teams, 10 from each of five regions, for preliminary rounds. The rounds will be held at Everyone's AI Lounge hubs. The regional schedule starts in Gyeongsang on Sept. 15, followed by Jeolla-Jeju on Sept. 16, the capital region on Sept. 17, Chungcheong on Sept. 18 and Gangwon on Sept. 22.

Two teams from each regional preliminary will advance to a 10-team final. Finalists will receive about two months of coaching and mentoring from experts at major domestic AI and IT companies to develop and improve services for practical use. The ministry will also provide public and private data, APIs, vibe-coding tokens, cloud resources and development tools. Promising services found through the contest will receive follow-up support for startups and commercialization, the ministry said.

The prize pool includes a 10 million won ($7,066) grand prize, a 5 million won top-excellence prize, two 2.5 million won excellence prizes and six 1 million won encouragement prizes.