South Korea cannot afford to reduce the pace of artificial intelligence development as it works to catch up with leading countries and open new markets, the country’s science minister said Wednesday.
Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said countries that are still developing their AI capabilities face different circumstances from nations that are already technological leaders. He argued that slowing development while trying to compete globally could put South Korea at a disadvantage.
“We cannot afford to slow down the pace of AI development,” Bae said in a social media post, according to Yonhap News.
He warned that the gap between countries with advanced AI systems approaching human-level capabilities and those without them could affect more than technological progress. According to Bae, it could also influence industrial competitiveness, national security and long-term economic growth.
However, Bae said faster AI development should not come at the expense of safety. He stressed that safeguards and public confidence need to develop alongside advances in AI technology.
His remarks came as international discussions intensify over whether the development of frontier AI should be slowed.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk have supported measures to slow the development of advanced AI systems so that safety protections can keep pace. They have also advocated stronger independent oversight.
US President Donald Trump has opposed calls for a slowdown, dismissing concerns about AI posing a threat to humanity as a “hoax” and arguing that restricting US development could give China an advantage.
China has likewise criticized what it described as fear-driven confrontation and intense competition, arguing that such approaches could obstruct international efforts to establish AI governance. Beijing has instead called for AI development that is open and inclusive.
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