Interior ministry launches pan-government AI council

The interior ministry said Tuesday it launched a pan-government cooperation framework for artificial intelligence and data administration, convening the first AI and Data Administration Officers Council at the Seoul Government Complex on Wednesday.

The council is chaired by the vice minister of the interior ministry and is made up of director-general-level AI and data administration officers from each agency. It was established under Article 19 of the AI and Data Administration Act, which gives it responsibility for overseeing each agency's AI work and the building, provision and shared use of data.

The ministry presented plans to expand OnAI, its intelligent work-management platform, to open the top 100 public data sets early, and to improve the user interfaces of government websites, requesting cooperation from other agencies.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups presented a plan to introduce AI services into the Small and Medium Venture Business 24 integrated platform, aimed at providing tailored one-stop services for smaller companies through data linkage. The Seoul metropolitan government said it had analyzed the structure of some 650,000 data sets it holds alongside demand from citizens, businesses and policy needs to select 100 high-value data sets, which it will convert into AI-ready data and begin opening in stages from 2027. Incheon proposed expanding opportunities for local governments to join public contests for AI and data projects and building a system to share and spread strong services.

The issues discussed at the meeting will be reviewed and pursued jointly, with the interior ministry preparing legal and institutional support and each agency drawing up measures suited to its own work.

The ministry also laid out a timetable for strengthening the institutional basis for public-sector AI use. It plans to distribute AI impact assessment guidelines by December to prevent AI deployments from infringing on citizens' basic rights, expand a pan-government common AI foundation that agencies can use when adopting the technology, and establish a public AI and data association by 2027 to reinforce public-private cooperation.

"We will operate this council as a venue for pan-government cooperation where difficulties in the field are shared and solutions are found together," Vice Minister Kim Min-jae said. "While putting in place a safe basis for using AI, we will work closely with each agency so that AI and data administration leads to administrative service innovations that citizens can feel."