President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday urged the country’s data agency to serve as the nation’s chief data officer, or CDO, while calling for broader use of artificial intelligence to identify and counter fake news and misinformation.
Lee also floated the idea of elevating the status of the Ministry of Data and Statistics from the current vice ministerial level to a ministerial-level agency while convening the first session of a second round of briefings from all ministries and government agencies aimed at conducting an interim review of the progress made during the first half of the year.
“What is the most essential element of an AI society — its raw material, so to speak? Isn’t it data? No matter how advanced the technology is, it cannot do anything without data,” Lee said, emphasizing the importance of the Ministry of Data and Statistics in achieving South Korea’s vision of becoming a global leader in artificial intelligence.
“The Ministry of Data and Statistics should not operate like the former Statistics Korea, merely managing statistics or looking up objective facts, but should instead approach its work as the Republic of Korea’s CDO,” he added, referring to South Korea by its official name.
