Opening Remarks by H.E. Cho Tae-yul Minister of Foreign Affairs for AI Global Forum

Opening Remarks

AI Global Forum

H.E. Cho Tae-yul

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Republic of Korea

May 22nd, 2024

Your Excellency, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo,

My fellow Ministers,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me a great pleasure to welcome each and every one to the AI Global Forum.

I would like to extend my deep gratitude to the distinguished panelists with a wide-range of backgrounds who have traveled from afar to join this event.

As you know, the AI Global Forum is taking place in parallel with the AI Seoul Summit. So I wish to take a moment to acknowledge our co-host for the AI Seoul Summit.

Our special thanks go out to Secretary of State Michelle Donelan and the entire UK delegation for their tireless efforts as the co-hosts. The UK's visionary leadership in organizing high-level forums such as the Bletchley Park Summit and spearheading global dialogues on AI governance deserves our full appreciation.

In a similar spirit, the aim of the AI Global Forum is to provide a multi-stakeholder platform, recognizing the critical need for an inclusive dialogue on AI.

As a leading producer of both AI software and hardware, and with a robust indigenous AI ecosystem, Korea is well-placed to assume unique roles and responsibilities within the emerging global AI governance framework. Korea can also help shape the rules of the road in conformity with the foundational values we collectively hold dear, such as human rights, the rule of law and freedom of speech.

It is clear that the advent of generative AI has created unique challenges that policy-makers are ill-equipped to tackle alone. Generative AI transcends national borders, impacting diverse domains, each with distinct ethical, technical, and economic implications. The complexity has naturally led to a wide spectrum of governance initiatives, tailored to different emerging contexts.

For instance, Korea co-hosted the Third Summit for Democracy with Ecuador, the United Kingdom and the United States last March. Under the central theme of emerging technologies and democracy, the Summit sought to galvanize global action to counter AI-empowered misinformation, disinformation, and digital surveillance, in order to uphold the foundations of democratic societies.

We are also playing an integral part in shaping global conversations on the responsible use of AI in the military domain. Together with the Netherlands, we will be hosting the 2nd Summit on the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain (REAIM) in September.

Korea is also an active contributor to other important fora such as the OECD, G20, the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, and the United Nations and its bodies.

Against the plethora of governance initiatives, it is crucial that the international community coordinate these multiple efforts to avoid fragmentation and to strive for coherent and interoperable international governance frameworks.

For we know very well that fragmentation leads to a patchwork of regulations. It complicates compliance for industries and creates ambiguities regarding the protection of civic rights, among others, in this new era.

Reflecting this need, President Yoon Suk Yeol, during his visit to Paris in June 2023, advocated for digital ethics and governance on AI on a global level. This forum seeks to give further impetus to advancing this vision. We have designed the sessions that will follow to facilitate candid face-to-face discussions, with a particular emphasis on translating ideals into actions.

I sincerely that today's forum will provide a timely platform to help the important stakeholders here to align on three common priorities of AI governance: innovation, safety and inclusivity.

By converging on common goals and making sure that we are moving in the same direction, our efforts as a whole will surely be greater than the sum of their parts. It is our sincere hope that the deliberations over the coming days will enable us to harness our collective wisdom to shape a coherent vision of global AI governance.

Thank you.

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