AI Regulation in South Korea

South Korea's AI Basic Act was promulgated on 21 January 2025 and took effect on 22 January 2026. It is one of the first comprehensive AI laws outside the EU. The Ministry of Science and ICT oversees it.

The Act focuses on high-impact AI, meaning AI used in areas such as employment, education, finance, healthcare, criminal justice, and critical infrastructure. Operators of high-impact AI must manage risks, explain results, protect users, and keep human oversight. There is no pre-market conformity assessment, and impact assessments are an effort-based duty. Generative AI output must be labelled, and some foreign providers must appoint a domestic representative.

The Act's penalties are modest. Administrative fines reach KRW 30 million, about US$21,000, and apply only to a few failures such as not notifying users. The ministry has indicated a one-year grace period before fines. A January 2026 amendment renamed the national AI committee the National AI Strategy Committee.