South Korea Will Give Every Citizen Free AI Access With Unlimited Tokens

In brief

• South Korea plans to give its entire population free access to premium generative AI under a programme called "AI for All."
• Three tech consortia will provide the services, and the government will split up to 512 Nvidia B200 chips between them.
• Around a quarter of South Koreans already pay for generative AI, against roughly 2% of Americans.

South Korea intends to hand every one of its citizens free access to generative AI, in what amounts to the first attempt by a national government to treat model access as something close to a public service, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The tools will be wired into government systems, with the WSJ giving examples of potential use cases such as booking doctor's appointments, getting help finding an apartment or asking for tax advice. Small businesses will be able to work out their taxes and check whether they qualify for state support schemes, and parents will be sent suggested educational material for their children.

Seoul named three tech consortia on Friday to deliver the services, among them the country's two largest telecoms operators and the company behind Kakao, the messaging platform that functions as a general-purpose app across Korean life. Each will launch a dedicated app while folding the AI into products people already use. Usage will be uncapped, with no token limits.