# South Korea AI education and infrastructure rollout > Live situation record from CLSTR: https://clstr.news/situations/south-korea-ai-education-rollout > Updated: 2026-08-20T06:41:36.000Z. Sources: 5. Developments: 3. In late July 2026, the Kakao Impact Foundation created the Saijoeun AI Network, an expert council of scholars from leading Korean universities. The council is tasked with expanding Kakao’s digital citizenship program into AI citizenship education, developing models, an assessment tool and a curriculum that will be piloted with 20,000 students across 1,000 classes. A symposium in October will unveil the model, with a national rollout planned for 2027. Ryu Seok-young, Kakao Impact board chair, noted that in the AI era, “understanding AI correctly and using it responsibly as citizens is even more important.” A few days later, the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT announced the “Everyone’s AI Growth Ladder” platform. The initiative combines AI learning, development and startup support into a single ecosystem, offering an online AI Learning Hub, an AI Lab for citizen-led service creation, and five offline AI Lounges. Users will access extensive datasets, APIs and generative-AI resources, with the goal of making AI a basic competency and creating a pipeline from education to commercialization. By late August 2026, the competitive bidding phase for the “Everyone’s AI” project—aimed at providing a free national AI chatbot and public agents to prevent socio-economic gaps—has seen six consortia submit proposals. SK Telecom has formed the largest group with 20 partners, including firms in finance, mobility, and healthcare, leveraging its “A.X K2” foundation model. Kakao has partnered with several LG Group affiliates, such as LG Uplus and LG AI Research, to combine its “Kanana” model with LG’s “EXAONE.” Other competitors include KT and an Eastsoft-led consortium, which plans to launch “Al-Biseo,” an AI agent service designed to connect work and daily life across various digital environments. ## Timeline ### 2026-08-20: South Korean tech giants compete for ‘Everyone’s AI’ project Major South Korean firms including SKT, Kakao, KT, and Eastsoft are competing for the government’s ‘Everyone’s AI’ project to develop a free, national AI chatbot and public AI agents. 2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/south-korean-tech-giants-compete-for-everyones-ai-project ### 2026-08-03: South Korea launches nationwide “Everyone’s AI Growth Ladder” platform South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT launched the “Everyone’s AI Growth Ladder” project, a nationwide platform linking AI education, development and startup support, with offline hubs in five regions. 3 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/south-korea-launches-nationwide-everyones-ai-growth-ladder-platform ### 2026-07-29: Kakao launches AI and education expert council for AI citizenship education Kakao Impact Foundation launched the Saijoeun AI Network expert council to add AI citizenship education to its digital program, targeting 20,000 students this year and nationwide rollout by 2027. 2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/kakao-launches-ai-and-education-expert-council-for-ai-citizenship-education --- Cite as: South Korea AI education and infrastructure rollout. CLSTR, https://clstr.news/situations/south-korea-ai-education-rollout