Foreword (September 2025, Health and Welfare Policy Forum)

Abstract

The pace at which artificial intelligence is advancing is astounding—so rapid that governance struggles to keep up. Social risks loom in the gap between technological progress and regulatory response. While AI is rightly celebrated for its transformative potential, we must also heed warnings about the dangers it poses. One such warning comes from Geoffrey Hinton, a University of Toronto professor and 2024 Nobel laureate in physics, who told the BBC last December that there is a 10 to 20 percent chance AI could wipe out humanity within 30 years. Social security is one of the public service areas where AI technologies are most widely applied. In Korea, AI has been used to identify at-risk households and support job placement. Albeit slowly, regulations have been put in place to both harness AI’s immense potential and mitigate its risks. A key example is the Basic Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of Trust (the Basic Act on AI), passed in December 2024. Yet, it is hardly the case that social security received sufficient attention in the course of drafting this law. According to one index, Korea currently ranks as the world’s sixth most advanced AI powerhouse. But policy conversations around regulation, particularly concerning AI use in social security and related fields, are progressing at a glacial pace. This month’s issue of Health and Welfare Forum spotlights ‘Artificial Intelligence and Social Security,’ with four feature articles devoted to the theme. The first reviews the use of AI in Korea’s social security system. The second examines applications of AI in US social security, with a focus on Executive Order 14110, an exemplar AI regulation from the Biden Administration. The third provides a detailed account of Korea’s Basic Act on AI, assessing both its significance and its limitations. The final article explores the benefits and risks of applying AI in social security and offers policy implications.