The country’s major telecommunications and platform companies are forming alliances to compete over “AI for All,” a nationwide artificial intelligence (AI) service being promoted by the government. The project aims to distribute a conversational chatbot that anyone can use without cost or usage limits, along with a “public AI assistant” that can handle the issuance and application of administrative documents. Unlike the “independent AI foundation model” (Dokpamo) initiative, which focuses on developing large-scale AI models, this project is intended to integrate AI into citizens’ daily lives.

Observers say the success or failure of the project will depend on how effectively it includes AI-marginalized groups such as the elderly. According to the “2025 Digital Information Gap Survey” by the National Information Society Agency (NIA), 59.4% of the general population reported having experience using AI services, while the average among four key vulnerable groups—persons with disabilities, low-income households, farmers and fishers, and the elderly—was only 30.2%.

● Full-stack SKT, Kakao with KakaoTalk, KT-led alliance

According to the IT industry on the 19th, six entities, including SK Telecom, Kakao, and KT, have submitted proposals in response to the “AI for All” operator call announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA). Among them, three have formed large-scale consortia, each joined by more than 10 companies and institutions.

SK Telecom is promoting a “full-stack AI” offering that encompasses infrastructure, AI models, and services. Leveraging its “A.Dot” service, which has 10 million monthly active users, its proprietary large language model (LLM) “A.X K2,” and 22.5 million mobile lines, the company has partnered with 19 companies and institutions including Shinhan Card, Hana Card, T Map Mobility, Ringle, and Goodoc.

Kakao has partnered with the LG Group. It combines the KakaoTalk user base and its own models “Kanana” and “AI National Secretary” operation experience with LG Uplus’ large-scale quality verification capabilities, LG AI Research’s “K-EXAONE,” LG Electronics’ home appliance connectivity technology, and LG CNS’ public-sector system integration capabilities. A total of 14 companies and institutions, including Seoul National University Hospital, Lunit, Shinhan Bank, and FuriosaAI, are participating.

KT has formed an alliance with AI startups such as Upstage, Motif Technologies, and Rebellions. It plans to integrate Upstage’s “Solar,” Motif Technologies’ language model, and Rebellions’ domestically produced neural processing unit (NPU, an AI-dedicated semiconductor) with its own telecommunications network and education and lifestyle services. In total, 16 entities, including Daum, Musinsa, Zigbang, and EBS, have joined the consortium.

The government will select two to three operators at the end of this month after document and presentation evaluations. The selected companies are scheduled to begin pilot operations at the end of September and launch full services in December.

● 21 million users on foreign AI… will the landscape change?

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, of the approximately 23 million domestic users of generative AI, about 21 million use free foreign services. The government is accelerating the “AI for All” project to mitigate this heavy reliance on foreign platforms.

The performance of domestic models is also improving rapidly. In the second-round evaluation of the Dokpamo initiative announced on the 18th, three teams—Upstage, SK Telecom, and LG AI Research—passed. Motif Technologies, which did not pass this round, ranked 10th with a score of 47 on the Artificial Analysis Index (AAII), a composite evaluation metric by the global AI model analysis firm Artificial Analysis. By country, Korea ranked third after the United States and China.

Lee Sung-Yeop, professor at the Graduate School of Management of Technology at Korea University, said, “Even if the public and private sectors jointly launch the AI for All project, the services will only be sustainable if conditions are created for the private sector to operate autonomously,” adding, “If the quality does not match that of OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, there is a high possibility that users will turn away.”

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