What happened
On 13 October 2026, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that the Cabinet approved amendments to the 'Basic Law on Artificial Intelligence' and the 'Basic Law on Data Industry Promotion and Utilization'. The amendments establish a legal framework requiring AI training data developed or generated through government projects to be linked to and provided through the government's 'AI Hub' platform; allow MSIT to request data-sharing cooperation from private entities while mandating public institutions to comply; and provide administrative, financial and technical support for such sharing. Exceptions are permitted where sharing would breach trade secrets, infringe personal information or copyrights, or pose national-security risks as defined by presidential decree. Implementation is planned from April 2027, with subordinate regulations to be drafted.
Why it matters
This creates a national public-private AI training-data sharing framework and mandates that government-funded AI datasets flow to the AI Hub, lowering a key data-access barrier for Korean AI developers while imposing new data-governance and security obligations on both public bodies and data-sharing private entities.
Action needed
AI developers and data-holding organisations in Korea should review the new data-sharing obligations and monitor MSIT's subordinate-rule drafting ahead of the April 2027 implementation, including the national-security and IP/consent exceptions.