Blockchain Should Be Fostered as AI Trust Infrastructure, Not Just Regulated

National Assembly forum on promoting the AI and blockchain industries

"Blockchain can secure trust in AI data"

South Korean lawmakers and industry officials said at a National Assembly forum that blockchain should be fostered as a core industrial technology, rather than treated solely as a target of regulation, to secure trusted data in the AI era.

The Korea Blockchain Industry Promotion Association held a forum on September 11 at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, titled "The AI Era: Building Digital Trust Infrastructure and Promoting the Blockchain Industry." Attendees included Democratic Party lawmakers Kim Woo-young and Hwang Jeong-a, as well as independent lawmaker Choi Hyuk-jin.

The lawmakers said blockchain should be used to manage data provenance, content rights and transaction records. They also called for an institutional framework to support automated payments by AI agents and protect personal information.

"Trusted data is the foundation of AI industry growth"

Kim Woo-young of the Democratic Party said South Korea should look beyond virtual-asset regulation and examine how blockchain technology can be applied and combined with other industries.

He said that as AI performance improves, verifying the source of data and content is becoming as important as defining accountability for judgments made and transactions executed by AI. To turn the technology's potential into viable business, related rules and institutions must be updated.

"Identity and authority for AI agents, responsibility in automated payment processes, and balancing public ledgers with personal data protection are areas that require new standards," Kim said. He added that the government and the National Assembly should work together to design a new digital trust framework so that results from industry field tests lead to institutional improvements.

Hwang Jeong-a, also of the Democratic Party, said the credibility of data and content must be secured first if the convergence of AI and blockchain is to develop into a new industry.

"Blockchain can be used not only to prevent data tampering and trace usage history, but also for rights registration and automated settlement," Hwang said. "The scope of discussion should expand beyond virtual assets to AI data trading, protection of content rights, payments by AI agents and real-world assets."

She added that digital trust infrastructure is needed for technological potential to develop into a practical and sustainable industry. Hwang said she hoped the forum would serve as a starting point for discussions on new industries that could emerge from the convergence of AI and blockchain.

AI safety and narrowing regional gaps also cited as challenges

Choi said policymakers should strike a balance between technological development and safety, taking into account the possibility that AI could be misused. He added that more detailed discussion is needed on the role blockchain can play in strengthening privacy protection and security.

Participants also said investment in digital infrastructure should not widen the industrial gap between the Seoul metropolitan area and regional economies. Regions may provide the land and electricity needed for data centers without receiving enough job creation or business investment in return.

"We need to guard against a situation in which regions supply only electricity to data centers without seeing meaningful industrial growth," Choi said. He added that he had proposed a bill that would provide preferential treatment or incentives related to data use when companies linked to public data centers establish operations in regional areas.

He said attracting a single data center should not be the end goal. Related companies and industries should take root in the region as well. As AI- and blockchain-based digital trust infrastructure is built, industrial promotion and data policy should be linked so that regional disparities do not widen.