A competition inviting any citizen to turn their own ideas into artificial intelligence (AI) services and take on the challenge of solving problems in daily life and in their communities and society is set to be held. The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Bae Kyung-hoon) and the National Information Society Agency (President Kim Hyung-chul) announced on the 18th that they will host the ‘AI Lab for All AI Service Competition’.
 [코리안투데이] Recruitment guideline poster for the ‘AI Lab for All AI Service Competition’ © 장형임 기자 |
The competition has been organized as part of the ‘AI Growth Ladder Project for All’, which was launched on Aug. 3. Its aim is to help citizens go beyond simply learning and experiencing AI, building their practical capabilities by turning their own ideas into real AI services, and to support outstanding ideas as they grow into startups and commercial ventures.
The theme of the competition is ‘Proposing ideas and developing AI services to solve individual, regional and social issues using the AI Lab for All online platform’. Eligibility is broadly open to any citizen aged 15 or older, and applicants may enter as individuals or as teams of up to four members. Teams may apply under the region corresponding to one of the members’ residence, workplace or school. Applications are accepted from Aug. 18 to Sept. 6.
The competition proceeds in the following order: ▲application and submission of an idea proposal ▲written evaluation of proposals ▲regional preliminaries across five nationwide regions ▲a kick-off ceremony for teams advancing to the finals ▲expert coaching and mentoring along with service enhancement ▲final presentations and awards. First, the submitted proposals are comprehensively assessed on criteria such as problem definition and the need for the proposal, creativity and the appropriateness of AI use, and feasibility and completeness. Based on this, 10 teams are selected in each of the five regions — the Seoul metropolitan area, Gangwon, Chungcheong, Gyeongsang, and Jeolla-Jeju — for a total of 50 teams advancing to the preliminaries.
The regional preliminaries will be held at the ‘AI Lounge for All’, offline hubs that support AI service development and demonstration as well as expert coaching. Starting with the Gyeongsang region on Sept. 15, the preliminaries continue with Jeolla-Jeju (Sept. 16), the Seoul metropolitan area (Sept. 17), Chungcheong (Sept. 18) and Gangwon (Sept. 22). The top two teams from each region, 10 teams in total, will advance to the finals.
The 10 finalist teams will receive about two months of coaching and mentoring from experts at leading domestic AI and IT companies, enabling them to develop and refine their ideas into AI services ready for real-world use. In addition, they will be provided with resources needed for service development, including public and private data and APIs, vibe-coding tokens, cloud resources, and development support tools.
The total prize pool amounts to 26 million won. The grand-prize team will receive the award of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT along with 10 million won, while the top-excellence team will receive the award of the President of the National Information Society Agency and 5 million won. Two excellence-award teams will each receive 2.5 million won, and six encouragement-award teams will each receive 1 million won. The government plans to provide follow-up support so that outstanding services discovered through the competition can grow into startups and commercial ventures.
The competition is significant in that it is more than a mere contest — it offers a testing ground where citizens themselves can use AI to solve everyday inconveniences and local issues. As AI use spreads beyond the domain of a few experts to become a basic competency for ordinary citizens, the event is expected to give participants a chance to connect their ideas to real services and even to entrepreneurship.
Lee Do-kyu, Director-General of the Information and Communication Policy Office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, ‘As we enter a great transition in which AI is transforming every aspect of life, the ability to use AI is establishing itself as a new basic competency that every citizen must have and a core element of future competitiveness. It is therefore important to broaden the opportunities for anyone to learn AI and turn their own ideas directly into services.’ He added, ‘Through this competition, we hope to realize the AI Growth Ladder Project for All — leading from learning to development, on-site demonstration and the creation of new value — while also providing an occasion for the innovative challenges of participants, including young people, to be realized as actual services and to expand into startups and commercial ventures.’
Applications and further details for the competition can be found on the ‘AI Lab for All AI Service Competition’ website (contest.aitestbed.kr).
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화코리안브랜드대상 신청 최고경영인대상 신청 소비자만족도대상 신청
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