South Korea promises 3b for AI R&D after AlphaGo 'shock' ZDNet

South Korea, well known for its IT infrastructure, is promising 3.5 trillion won ( 3 billion) in funding from the public and private sectors to develop artificial intelligence for corporate and university AI projects. South Korea's President Park Geun-hye assembled leaders across the country's tech industry and senior government officials in Seoul last week to announce plans to invest the amount over the next five years. It appears to be largely a reaction to the phenomenal performance of Google's algorithm AlphaGo in an historic AI-versus-human game in Seoul earlier this month, which captured the South Korean media's imagination. "Above all, Korean society is ironically lucky, that thanks to the'AlphaGo shock' we have learned the importance of AI before it is too late," the president told local reporters assembled for the meeting, describing the game as a watershed moment of an imminent "fourth industrial revolution". It also calls for the private sector to match the public sector's commitment with 2.5 trillion won ( 2.14 billion).