AI Basic Act

What it is

Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and the Creation of a Foundation for Trust (Act No. 20676)

SI business operators serving Korea, including foreign firms; safety duties apply to systems above a training compute threshold set by decree, reported as 10^26 FLOP.

What it requires

• High-compute systems: identify, assess and mitigate risks across the lifecycle and report results to the Minister of Science and ICT
• High-impact SI: pre-deployment self-review, risk management, explanation and user protection plans, and human oversight
• Notify users in advance when a product uses generative or high-impact SI, and label generated outputs
• Clearly mark realistic synthetic audio, images and video
• Foreign operators above revenue or user thresholds appoint a domestic agent

Penalties

Administrative fines of up to 30 million won for failing to give notice, appoint a domestic agent or obey corrective orders.

What happens next

January 22, 2027: End of the one year grace period on administrative fines indicated by the Ministry of Science and ICT (policy, not statute).

Status

In force As of November 8, 2026, per the Control Map page for South Korea. Statuses follow the Control Map method: in force means binding and applying now; passed means enacted but not yet applying; voluntary covers guidance and pledges; proposed means formally introduced; stalled means withdrawn, paused or dead.

Sources

1. Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and the Creation of a Foundation for Trust Korea Ministry of Government Legislation
2. South Korea's AI Basic Act: Overview and Key Takeaways Cooley · Jan 27, 2026