South Korea faces legal vacuum over medical record ownership for AI

South Korea faces a legal vacuum regarding the ownership of medical records, which are becoming critical assets for the development of medical artificial intelligence (AI). While the current Medical Service Act mandates that medical institutions preserve and manage records and grants patients the right to view or receive copies, it does not explicitly define who holds the legal ownership of the data itself.

Data from the National Health Insurance Service indicates the scale of available information is massive, with approximately 1.07 billion hospital visits recorded annually. As AI companies increasingly rely on these high-value datasets to train diagnostic models, the lack of clear ownership creates significant risks. These include legal uncertainty for AI startups, potential data monopolies by large hospitals, and the absence of a compensation framework for patients whose sensitive health information generates economic value.

Representative Kim Sun-min noted that while the Personal Information Protection Act provides certain rights to data subjects, it remains insufficient regarding the property rights of medical records. International comparisons show varying approaches; for instance, while most U.S. states grant ownership to providers, New Hampshire specifies patient ownership, whereas countries like Japan and Germany focus on management duties rather than explicit ownership.