# Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of a Foundation for Trust (AI Basic Act, Act No. 20676) - **Record type**: Policy instrument - **Jurisdiction**: South Korea - **Instrument type**: Act / statute - **Status**: In force - **Binding**: Yes - **Issuing body**: National Assembly of the Republic of Korea; competent ministry Ministry of Science and ICT - **Adopted**: 2025-01-21 - **In force**: 2026-01-22 ## In brief AI Basic Act is a binding act of South Korea, issued by the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea; competent ministry Ministry of Science and ICT. It has been in force since 22 January 2026. Scope is as set out in the official text linked below. 9 obligations are recorded against it, each with its source reference. ## Summary Korea's AI Basic Act is a comprehensive framework statute combining industrial promotion with trust and safety rules. It gives a legal basis for a national AI master plan every three years and the National AI Committee, supports R&D, data, standardisation and SMEs, and imposes duties on operators of high-impact AI (risk management, explanation, human oversight) and transparency duties to notify users of generative AI output. Foreign operators above a threshold must designate a domestic representative. It was promulgated in January 2025 and took effect on 22 January 2026 after a one-year grace period. ## Scope Scope is as set out in the official text linked below. Issued by National Assembly of the Republic of Korea; competent ministry Ministry of Science and ICT. Oversight: Ministry of Science and ICT as competent authority; presidential National AI Committee; AI Safety Institute. Stated purpose: Promote the AI industry while establishing trust obligations for high-impact and generative AI. ## Key dates 2024-12-26: Passed by the National Assembly plenary; 2025-01-21: Promulgated as Act No. 20676; 2026-01-22: Act enters into force ## Notes on dates The in-force date is the one the key dates above record from the source; application dates are to be confirmed by a reviewer. ## Obligations recorded against this instrument (9) - **AI business operators must notify users in advance that a product or service runs on high-impact or generative AI** (Article 31(1)) — An AI business operator that provides a product or service operated by high-impact AI or by generative AI must notify users in advance that the product or service is based on such AI. The notice is owed before use and is the entry point of the Act's transparency chapter; failure to give it can attract an administrative fine after a corrective order. - Binding: yes - Applies from: 2026-01-22 - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-31-advance-notice-of-high-impact-and-generative-ai - **AI business operators must label generative AI output and clearly flag realistic synthetic media** (Article 31(2) and 31(3)) — An AI business operator that provides generative AI or a product or service using it must indicate that the output was generated by generative AI. Where the operator provides content such as virtual sound, images or video that is hard to distinguish from reality, it must clearly notify users that the content is AI-generated, in a manner that does not impair a work's artistic or creative expression where that applies. Detailed methods are left to Presidential Decree and ministry guidance. - Binding: yes - Applies from: 2026-01-22 - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-31-generative-output-labelling-and-deepfake-notice - **Operators of AI above the compute threshold must run lifecycle risk management and report safety results** (Article 32) — An AI business operator whose AI system's cumulative training computation exceeds the threshold set by Presidential Decree must identify, assess and mitigate risks across the system's life cycle, build a risk management system to monitor and respond to safety incidents caused by the AI, and submit the results of these measures to the Minister of Science and ICT. The threshold and reporting form are set in the Decree. - Binding: yes - Applies from: 2026-01-22 - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-32-safety-measures-for-high-performance-ai - **Operators of high-impact AI must establish and operate a risk management plan** (Article 34(1)) — An AI business operator that provides high-impact AI, or a product or service using it, must establish and operate a plan for managing the risks of that AI. High-impact AI is AI used in areas such as energy, drinking water, health care and medical devices, nuclear safety, biometric analysis for criminal investigation, decisions on recruitment or loans, transport, public services and education, where it may materially affect life, safety or fundamental rights. - Binding: yes - Applies from: 2026-01-22 - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-34-high-impact-ai-risk-management-plan - **Operators of high-impact AI must be able to explain outputs and the main criteria behind them** (Article 34(1)) — Operators of high-impact AI must put in place measures to explain the AI's final results, the main criteria used to reach them, and an overview of the training data, to the extent that this is technically feasible. The duty targets explainability of the system's decisions to users and affected people rather than full disclosure of the model. - Binding: yes - Applies from: 2026-01-22 - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-34-high-impact-ai-explanation-measures - **Operators of high-impact AI must ensure human management and supervision** (Article 34(1)) — Operators of high-impact AI must ensure that the AI is subject to human management and supervision, so that people remain able to monitor its operation and intervene in or override its outputs where those outputs may affect life, physical safety or fundamental rights. - Binding: yes - Applies from: 2026-01-22 - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-34-high-impact-ai-human-oversight - **Operators of high-impact AI must prepare user-protection measures and keep records of their safety and trust measures** (Article 34(1)) — Operators of high-impact AI must prepare and implement a plan to protect users, and must prepare and keep documents describing the measures they take to secure the AI's safety and reliability, so that they can be shown to the Ministry of Science and ICT on request. Further items may be added by Presidential Decree, and the ministry may publish guidelines on how to meet these duties. - Binding: yes - Applies from: 2026-01-22 - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-34-high-impact-ai-user-protection-and-documentation - **Operators of high-impact AI should assess its impact on fundamental rights before use** (Article 35) — An AI business operator that provides high-impact AI, or a product or service using it, is to make efforts to assess in advance the impact the AI may have on people's fundamental rights. The provision is drafted as an endeavour duty rather than a hard requirement, but public bodies procuring high-impact AI are directed to give preference to products that have undergone such an assessment, and the ministry may set assessment methods. - Binding: no - Applies from: 2026-01-22 - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-35-high-impact-ai-impact-assessment - **Foreign AI business operators above the threshold must designate a domestic representative in Korea** (Article 36) — An AI business operator without an address or place of business in Korea, whose user numbers or revenue meet the thresholds set by Presidential Decree, must designate in writing a domestic representative with an address in Korea. The representative handles the operator's duties under the Act, including submitting the Article 32 safety results, supporting high-impact AI confirmation and cooperating with fact-finding investigations, and the operator is treated as responsible for the representative's acts. - Binding: yes - Applies from: 2026-01-22 - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/south-korea-ai-basic-act-art-36-domestic-representative ## Provenance - **Permanent id**: AIPT-POL-0175 (https://aipolicytracker.org/id/AIPT-POL-0175; never changes or gets reused) - **Record page**: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/south-korea-framework-act-on-the-development-of-artificial-intelligence-and-establishment-of-a-foundation-for - **Official source**: https://www.law.go.kr/lsInfoP.do?lsiSeq=268543 - **Source document**: Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of a Foundation for Trust (AI Basic Act, Act No. 20676) - **Published by**: Korea Ministry of Government Legislation, National Law Information Center - **Review status**: verified - **Confidence**: high - **Facts last confirmed**: 2026-09-26 - **Confirmed by**: Bhaskar Bhatt (see https://aipolicytracker.org/reviewers) - **Retrieved**: 2026-10-27 - **Licence**: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - **Cite as**: AIPolicyTracker (2026). "Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of a Foundation for Trust (AI Basic Act, Act No. 20676)" [AIPT-POL-0175, record version 2, verified 26 September 2026 by Bhaskar Bhatt]. https://aipolicytracker.org/id/AIPT-POL-0175 (accessed 27 October 2026). > This record is a structured summary with a link to the official text. It is not legal advice. Open the official source before relying on any date or duty. How current each record type must be is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/verification; what a record must carry at all is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/coverage.