Despite rising interest in artificial intelligence, Korea's AI technology is known to be falling far behind that of major countries. In terms of AI technologies, Korea is lagging behind Japan which has heavily invested in robotics projects for years, while just four months ahead of China.
Industry experts advised that to become one of frontrunners in the AI area, Korea should put more human and physical resources into this area with a long-term perspective.
According to the 2014 ICT technology level report by the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion, Korea's AI software technology level is estimated at 75.0 when that of the United States is set at 100. This is far lower than Japan's 89.3 and China's AI technology level is gauged at 71.9.
In terms of AI technology gap, Korea is two years behind the United States and 1.1 years behind Japan, while staying 0.3 year ahead of China. Given that China is recently making a huge amount of investment in this area, Korea could be overtaken by China anytime soon.
