Science ministry backs ETRI's entry into agentic AI standards group

The science ministry said that the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute had joined the Agentic AI Foundation, seeking a South Korean role in setting international standards for agentic AI systems and external services.

Founded in December 2025, AAIF develops and promotes common standards to support agentic AI's development in an open environment rather than one dependent on specific companies. Agentic AI plans tasks and links programs and services to carry out work. Common standards are important for different AI systems and external services to exchange information smoothly.

The ministry said ETRI's membership lets it participate from the early stages of shaping core agentic AI specifications, including Model Context Protocol, or MCP. MCP establishes rules for service connections and data exchange across systems for tasks such as scheduling, meeting reservations and data analysis. The ministry said the membership provides a basis for domestic research results to be incorporated into international standards and spread globally.

AAIF has about 250 corporate and institutional members, including AWS, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, OpenAI and Mistral AI. Korean participants include NHN KCP, Danal, Nexters and Lablup, alongside ETRI. Its work covers seven areas, including agentic AI reliability, security, governance and risk regulation, and commerce applications.

"Agentic AI is a key technology for leading the reasoning AI market, which is expected to grow rapidly alongside physical AI," Park Tae-wan, the science ministry's information and communications industry policy director, said. "We will actively support the rapid incorporation of core technologies from promising Korean AI companies, universities and research institutes into international standards so that companies can generate tangible benefits."