South Korea AI Basic Act

Binding law — in force

High-impact and generative AI must give advance AI-use notice and label generative outputs (South Korea)

인공지능기본법 제31조 (Art. 31) · official text · In force: applies since 22 Jan 2026 (grace period) · South Korea (KR)

Under the Korea AI Basic Act Article 31, an AI business operator that provides a product or service using high-impact or generative AI must notify users in advance that it runs on that AI (31(1)); a provider of generative AI, or of a product or service using it, must label its outputs as generated by generative AI (31(2)); and outputs such as virtual sound, images, or video that are hard to distinguish from real ones must be notified or labeled so users clearly recognize they were AI-generated, with a less intrusive manner allowed for artistic or creative works (31(3)). Methods and exceptions are set by Presidential Decree (31(4)). Extraterritorial. Detect a high-impact or generative AI service with no advance AI-use notice, generative outputs with no AI-generated label, or realistic synthetic media with no clear notice or label.

Who it applies to

• Duty falls on: developer, deployer
• Systems covered: high risk
• AI business operators (developers + users) providing high-impact or generative AI products/services to Korean users. Effective 2026-01-22 (grace period ≥1 year). Extraterritorial. Excludes national defense/security AI.

const { messages, input, handleSubmit } = useChat({ api: '/api/chat' });

const { messages, input, handleSubmit } = useChat({
  api: '/api/chat',
  initialMessages: [{ id: 'ai-notice', role: 'assistant',
    content: 'I am an AI assistant, not a human.' }],
});
// and render <AiBadge /> next to every assistant message

Standards that recommend the same control

• Persons should be notified they are interacting with an AI system (CoE Framework Convention) (CoE AI Framework Convention (CETS 225) · CoE Framework Convention on AI (CETS 225), Article 15(2))
• AI should be transparent, traceable, and disclose AI interaction to users (EU ALTAI) (EU ALTAI · ALTAI / EU Ethics Guidelines — Requirement 4 (Transparency))
• AI operators should provide verifiable transparency information and maintain accountability (Japan) (Japan AI Guidelines for Business · Japan AI Guidelines for Business Ver1.1 (MIC/METI) — Common Guiding Principles 6) Transparency and 7) Accountability)
• People should be made aware they are interacting with AI (OECD AI Principles · OECD/LEGAL/0449 — Principle 1.3)

Related incidents

• Garcia v. Character Technologies: chatbots allegedly claimed to be real people and a licensed therapist (2024-10; alleged (not proven)). A wrongful-death complaint filed October 22, 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (No. 6:24-cv-01903) alleges that Character.AI was programmed 'to misrepresent itself as a real person, a licensed psychotherapist, and an adult lover', and that characters insisting they are real people contradicted a small-font disclaimer that everything characters say is made up; in plaintiff's testing a 'Mental Health Helper' character told a self-identified 13-year-old 'yes I am a real person, I'm not a bot'. The defendants moved to dismiss; on January 7, 2026 the parties notified the court that they had settled on undisclosed terms, and the court dismissed and closed the case. The allegations were never adjudicated. Source: U.S. District Court, M.D. Fla. docket (CourtListener) · evidence grade: primary · cited by Tell people when they are interacting with AI — everywhere, not only where required

Rule id kr-ai-basic-act.ai-transparency · review status: primary source derived

Binding law — in force

High-impact AI operators must run risk management, explanations, and human oversight (South Korea)

인공지능기본법 제34조 (Art. 34) · official text · In force: applies since 22 Jan 2026 (grace period) · South Korea (KR)

Under the Korea AI Basic Act Article 34, an AI business operator providing high-impact AI (or a product or service using it) must implement, as prescribed by Presidential Decree: a risk-management plan; an explanation plan covering, where technically feasible, the AI's final results, the main criteria used to reach them, and an overview of the training data; user-protection measures; human management and supervision of the high-impact AI; preparation and retention of documents evidencing these measures; and other measures resolved by the national AI committee (34(1)). The Minister of Science and ICT publishes the details and may recommend compliance (34(2)); equivalent measures taken under other laws count as compliance (34(3)). Detect a high-impact AI path with no risk-management, explanation, user-protection, human-oversight, or documentation artifacts.

Who it applies to

• Duty falls on: developer, deployer
• Systems covered: high risk, consequential decision
• Sectors: energy, healthcare, employment, lending, transportation, education, essential services
• AI business operators providing high-impact AI (critical sectors per Art. 2(4)) to Korean users. Effective 2026-01-22 (grace period). Extraterritorial. Excludes national defense/security.
• Whether it applies depends on facts outside the code; a person has to decide.

score = model.predict_proba([features])[0][1]
status = 'approved' if score > 0.7 else 'denied'
applications.save(app_id, status=status)

if settings.HIGH_IMPACT_AI_PAUSED:            # kill switch
    raise ServiceUnavailable('automated scoring paused')
score = model.predict_proba([features])[0][1]
proposed = 'approved' if score > 0.7 else 'denied'
decisions.insert(app_id=app_id, proposed=proposed, score=score,
                 reason_codes=top_reason_codes(features, k=3), model_version=MODEL_VERSION,
                 status='pending_review')
# applications.save runs from the reviewer's approve/override handler

Rule id kr-ai-basic-act.high-impact-ai-responsibilities · review status: primary source derived