Korea’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry stands sixth globally. Samsung Group held more AI patents than major companies in the United States and China, ranking high among the world’s top companies in the patent sector. But a lack of talented people and sluggish investment were pointed out as areas for improvement.
The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) announced the results of the Global AI Index, which compares the level of the AI industry by country, on Oct. 12. The Global AI Index is released annually by TOTUS Intelligence, a British data analytics media company.
Korea’s AI industry level took 6th place overall among 62 countries. In terms of detailed items, it was excellent in the patent (development) and policy (government strategy) sectors while the operating environment, human resources, and research level sectors somewhat improved but are in need of further improvement. The private sector’s investment in AI was analyzed as somewhat sluggish.
The United States and China dominated the AI industry, forming a two-runner race. America topped the overall rankings, picking up first place in five categories, while China came in second by claiming second place in infrastructure, research levels, and patents.
Korea was found to have the most AI-related patents after the United States and China. By companies, Korea’s Samsung stood first, IBM second, Google third, and Baidu fifth.
In the policy category which refers to governments’ national strategy and investment plans for AI, Korea ranked sixth, showing its excellence in public investment in AI, including in both scale and duration. In 2019, Korea ranked lowest in the policy category, but this year its ranking rose significantly due to the Korean government’s announcements of AI industry development strategies.
Korea improved somewhat in the AI operating environment, talent, and research level categories over the past four years. But the nation still remained outside the top 10 in the world, so it needs to improve in these sectors.
In the talent category, Korea rose to 12th place this year from 28th place in 2019, but in the numbers of data scientists and engineers, the country nabbed 20th place, reflecting a shortage of data analysts.
Korea’s AI industry was the weakest in private investment in AI as it took 18th place, which was the lowest among its rankings in seven categories. In particular, Korea lacks both the number of AI-related companies and the amount of investment. Korea placed 11th in terms of publicly traded AI-related companies with a total of six. This figure is small compared to that of the United States (172), China (161), Japan (26) and Taiwan (9). Korea came in 19th in terms of average investment per AI company.