Personal data in an 'AI powerhouse' society

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Personal data in an 'AI powerhouse' society

Published: 18 Dec. 2025, 00:01

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Kim Eun-mi

The author is a professor of communications at Seoul National University.

In October, the Pew Research Center released the results of a global survey on public perceptions of artificial intelligence. As AI moves rapidly into everyday life and mixes promise with anxiety around the world, Korean attitudes stood out. Korea recorded the lowest share among 25 surveyed countries of respondents expressing concern about the speed of AI’s spread. Overall, the findings suggest an unusually positive outlook on artificial intelligence. Koreans are quick to accept and experiment with new technologies and are highly alert to the risk of falling behind. Yet, it is worth asking whether this competitive embrace of a technology that can profoundly reshape personal identity, human relationships and even culture should be viewed as unambiguously desirable.

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a briefing on K-semiconductor visions and development strategies for the AI era held on Dec. 10 at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul. A slogan reading “Opening an AI Powerhouse” is displayed in the background. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The experience of social media offers a useful point of reference. In the mid to late 2000s, as social media expanded alongside smartphones, it was celebrated as a liberating technology for humanity. It was said to usher in freedom of expression, democratize power and create communities that transcended geographic and social boundaries. Many believed that an ideal society, once long imagined, could finally be realized through technology. Companies such as Google and Meta staged lavish events and successfully elevated “sharing” and “openness” into unquestioned values. Before long, leaders of global IT firms were treated as visionary sages and heroes of the future.

There were warnings from scholars and critical media outlets about the shallowing of human relationships, the spread of surveillance, the erosion of reflective thinking and deepening polarization. Those voices, however, were quickly marginalized and dismissed as belated concerns. As the overlapping social problems driven by social media came fully into view, the Australian government went so far as to implement a law on Dec. 10 banning social media use by those under 16. The move drew global attention.

The rapid penetration of AI into daily life invites deeper reflection on human agency, the capacity of individuals to remain owners of their own thoughts. From the perspective of national competitiveness, it is difficult to deny the need for policy efforts to foster the AI industry and talent. No one can predict exactly how these transformations will unfold. Still, society must ask whether it will start from what technology can do and relegate humans to the remaining roles, or whether it will place human growth and values at the center and shape technology to serve them. This question should mark the starting point of media literacy. Dismissing it as a luxury in a world preoccupied with war may ultimately exact a far higher cost.

I once met students who had defected from North Korea in childhood, navigated Korea’s fierce entrance exam competition and entered university. When I asked how they managed the exams, one replied that the college entrance test and essay exams were relatively easy. The hardest task, they said, was writing a personal statement. Writing about oneself felt overwhelming. In an environment where people are conditioned to align their thinking with external standards and constantly censor what they say or think, it is difficult to develop a sense of autonomous selfhood. Having a secure space to be freely oneself is also the wellspring of creativity, where unique perspectives and experiences take shape.

Delivery trucks are parked at a Coupang logistics depot in Seoul on Dec. 14. Despite a growing backlash over a personal data leak and moves toward a class-action lawsuit, Coupang’s weekly active users rose 4.1 percent to 29,935,356 during the period from Dec. 1 to 7, according to WiseApp·Retail. [YONHAP]

Media devices, such as smartphones, now hold the sum of an individual’s memories, relationships and preferences. They have become part of the self, in some ways knowing us better than we know ourselves. We live in a world where private conversations can be recorded and resurface at any time, where messaging apps allow constant tracking of one another’s locations and where it is hard even to grasp how our most intimate thoughts flow into massive AI systems. Once individuals hand over judgment and opinion, AI becomes a kind of external hard drive for the human mind. The ability to keep the data stored on smartphones secure is now a minimum condition for protecting privacy. This is not merely a defensive barrier to keep others from looking in. It is the foundation on which one’s sense of self is built.

The recent Coupang case, a shocking breach involving the personal data of more than 30 million users of Coupang, Korea’s largest online shopping platform, has heightened public awareness of the gravity of personal data protection. Yet, it is regrettable that much of the debate remains focused on which data were leaked, how compensation or lawsuits might proceed and how culpable Coupang’s owners may be. Even as the government proclaims “AI for everyone,” it has openly proposed inspecting the personal mobile phones of civil servants in the name of the public interest. This double standard sends a distorted message about privacy rights. A more robust social debate over the meaning of protecting personal data is essential if Korea’s vision of becoming an AI powerhouse is to rest on firmer ground.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.