South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT named three consortia on 28 August to operate 모두의 AI ("AI for All"), a free AI assistant for every citizen. The earliest timestamped report carries 09:27 KST — 00:27 UTC; three further Korean outlets followed through the morning. SK Telecom, KT and Kakao were chosen from six applicants after written evaluation plus a presentation round that included a prototype video demonstration.
The model stacks
SK Telecom brings A.X K2, a stated 688 billion parameters, plus Solar Open 2, Motif 3 and K-EXAONE 2.0. KT brings Mi:dm K Pro 2.5 with Solar Pro 4 and Motif 3. Kakao brings Kanana, EXAONE and K-EXAONE 2.0. At least 50% of each system must be domestic AI models meeting ministry standards.
What the common framing gets wrong
The error is already in English-language coverage. One major outlet reports that each team will receive 512 Nvidia B200 GPUs. The ministry's own wording is "GPU B200 총 512장을 지원한다" — 총 means total, supplied this year across all three consortia. That is roughly 170 GPUs per operator to serve a national consumer AI service. The mistranslation inflates the programme threefold and conceals precisely the constraint that defines it.
Second, selected is not signed, and neither is launched. What happened on 28 August was the choice of preferred bidders. Formal agreements are due in September, the service is beta-first, and the year-end launch is a stated target. Government budget picks up operating costs only from 2027. "Korea launches free national AI" is a phase ahead of the facts.
Third, this is a distribution deal dressed as a sovereign-model story. None of the three consortia is training a new frontier model for this. They are wiring existing Korean models into telecom, messenger and IPTV channels, and the 50%-domestic rule is a procurement floor rather than evidence of a capability breakthrough. The 688B figure for A.X K2 is the vendor's published number and is not independently verified.
The company that stayed out
Naver, Korea's largest platform, applied for nothing — citing the timeline and the requirement to carry rivals' models inside its own service.