AI Basic Act
In plain wordsSouth Korea's main AI law, in force since January 2026, which sets safety and transparency duties for AI used in sensitive areas and for AI-generated content.
South Korea
South Korea's comprehensive AI statute, combining support for the AI industry with obligations on businesses. Operators must tell users in advance when products use high-impact or generative AI and label AI-generated output, especially realistic synthetic media. 'High-impact' AI — systems that can significantly affect life, safety or fundamental rights, such as those used in health care, hiring, lending or biometric analysis — carries duties of risk management, explanation, human oversighthuman oversight, n.: Keeping people able to watch, understand, question and, if necessary, stop or overrule an AI system, rather than letting it act unchecked., impact assessment and documentation. Foreign providers meeting thresholds set by decree must appoint a domestic representative, and the law reaches activities abroad that affect the Korean market. The Ministry of Science and ICT oversees it; fines are capped at 30 million won (about US$20,000), modest beside those of the EU AI ActEU AI Act, prop. n.: The European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models..
Before launching in Seoul, the chatbot added an AI-generated label to satisfy the AI Basic Act.
Origin
Passed by the National Assembly on 26 December 2024, promulgated on 21 January 2025 and in force from 22 January 2026, making South Korea the first Asian country — and, by most counts, the second jurisdiction after the European Union — with a comprehensive AI law.
Related
- EU AI ActEU AI Act, prop. n.: The European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models.
- high-risk AI systemhigh-risk AI system, n.: Under EU law, an AI system used where mistakes could seriously hurt people's safety or rights — in hiring, schooling, loans, policing, borders or products like medical devices — and which must therefore pass strict checks.
- AI-generated content labelingAI-generated content labeling, n.: Marking text, images, audio or video as made by AI — with a visible notice, hidden data in the file, or both — so that people and platforms can tell synthetic content from real.
- AI regulationAI regulation, n.: Laws and binding government rules about artificial intelligence: what AI may be used for, what checks its makers must run, and what penalties apply when they break the rules.
- risk-based approachrisk-based approach, n.: A way of regulating AI in which the strictness of the rules depends on how much harm a use could cause: bans for the worst uses, heavy checks for risky ones, little or nothing for the rest.
- transparency obligationstransparency obligations, n.: EU rules requiring that people be told when they are dealing with AI: chatbots must say they are bots, AI-made content must be marked, and deepfakes must be labeled.
Sources
- OneTrust (2025). South Korea's new AI law: what it means for organizations and how to prepare. onetrust.com/blog/south-koreas-new-ai-law-what-it-means-for-organizations-and-how-to-prepare
Defined in law or standards
Republic of Korea, Basic Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and the Establishment of a Foundation for Trust (promulgated 21 January 2025; in force 22 January 2026).
Mentioned in
AI-generated content labelingAI-generated content labeling, n.: Marking text, images, audio or video as made by AI — with a visible notice, hidden data in the file, or both — so that people and platforms can tell synthetic content from real., AI Promotion ActAI Promotion Act, prop. n.: Japan's 2025 national AI law, which sets up a government AI headquarters and strategy to encourage AI development and use, relying on cooperation and guidance rather than fines.