More than 200 citizens discuss future vision for the AI era from Saturday through Sunday

Deliberation outcomes to be developed into policy agenda after 10-day preparatory study period

President Lee Jae-myung: 'Be the milestone on a path no one has walked before'

Participants share their views at the "Public Deliberation on the Basic Society in the Age of AI Transition" forum, held over two days at Seoul National University's Siheung Campus Convention Center from Saturday through Sunday. [Basic Society Committee]
Participants share their views at the "Public Deliberation on the Basic Society in the Age of AI Transition" forum, held over two days at Seoul National University's Siheung Campus Convention Center from Saturday through Sunday. [Basic Society Committee]

As AI is expected to fundamentally reshape every aspect of daily life — from employment and income to welfare — more than 200 members of a citizens' deliberation panel are gathering to discuss what kind of society South Korea should aspire to in the AI era.

The Presidential Committee on Basic Society announced it is hosting the "Public Deliberation on the Basic Society in the Age of AI Transition" forum over two days, from Saturday through Sunday, at Seoul National University's Siheung Campus Convention Center.

The roughly 200 citizens on the deliberation panel were selected through random sampling with consideration for regional and age diversity. Adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 34 — those expected to be most affected by the AI transition — make up more than half of the panel.

Before attending the forum, panel members completed a 10-day preparatory deliberation period through an online public participation platform dedicated to the basic society initiative.

The platform's website hosts study materials and e-learning videos for the preparatory phase and is open to anyone wishing to access it.

The deliberation is structured not as a "policy-choice" exercise aimed at selecting a specific alternative, but as an "agenda-forming" process designed to surface issues for future discussion through citizens' voices.

The committee plans to use this public deliberation — a hallmark method of deliberative democracy — to explore the blueprint and policy direction for a basic society.

During the forum, participants will examine the social changes the AI transition may bring, drawing on what they studied in advance, and exchange their thoughts and views on the key issues.

On Saturday, participants will hear expert presentations on the AI transition and the concept of a basic society, then discuss how their lives might change during this period of transformation and what a basic society could look like.

On Sunday, the discussion will turn to specifics — jobs, income security, basic services, and funding and reinvestment — through presentations and question-and-answer sessions. Participants will work out what society must do, and how, to realize the vision of a basic society they outlined the previous day.

An attendee poses a question about a presentation at the "Public Deliberation on the Basic Society in the Age of AI Transition" forum, held over two days at Seoul National University's Siheung Campus Convention Center from Saturday through Sunday. [Basic Society Committee]
An attendee poses a question about a presentation at the "Public Deliberation on the Basic Society in the Age of AI Transition" forum, held over two days at Seoul National University's Siheung Campus Convention Center from Saturday through Sunday. [Basic Society Committee]

To ensure fairness throughout the deliberation process, the committee formed a dedicated expert advisory panel comprising specialists in AI, employment, welfare, public deliberation and fiscal policy, among other fields. The panel has been reviewing the appropriateness of the agenda, the fairness of the deliberation procedures, and the objectivity and balance of the materials.

The expert advisers are directly involved in drafting the forum's reference materials and in leading presentations and question-and-answer sessions, so that citizens on the deliberation panel can have their questions answered immediately and deliberate thoroughly.

To channel the citizens' views from the forum into follow-up policy discussions, the committee plans to form a 40-member policy agenda planning group — comprising 20 experts and 20 representatives from the citizens' panel — and begin operating it in October.

The group will review specific policy agenda items and strategic tasks based on the future vision and policy directions put forward by the citizens' panel, then prepare a policy proposal to submit to the committee by November. The committee will then work to translate the proposals into actual policy through further public deliberation or consultations with relevant ministries.

President Lee Jae-myung, in a congratulatory message read on his behalf by Jeon Seong-hwan, chief of staff for public listening and integration at Cheong Wa Dae, urged the citizens' panel to "be the milestone on a new path — the AI basic society — that no one has walked before." He added that the country is "facing a civilizational transformation in which AI and robots are rapidly changing every domain" and that it must "think together about how to guarantee a basic life for all citizens."

Kang Nam-hoon, vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on Basic Society, said the forum is "a place where people with different views can look directly at the changes the AI transition will bring to our society from a citizen's perspective, engage in open dialogue, and find the direction for our future." He added that the committee would "take careful steps to ensure that the deliberation results — particularly those involving young people and diverse citizens — lead to a concrete vision of the basic society we should aspire to and to specific policy agenda items."


thlee@heraldcorp.com