South Korea Expands AI Partnerships as Government Explores Cooperation With Anthropic

The South Korean government is expanding its global AI partnerships beyond OpenAI, as it reviews potential policy cooperation with Anthropic, the developer of the generative AI model Claude.

According to The Chosun Daily, citing government and industry sources, the Ministry of Science and ICT is considering formal cooperation measures, including signing a MoU with Anthropic.

The discussions reportedly followed a meeting between Bae Kyung-hoon, South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, and Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, during the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi last month.

During the meeting, both sides discussed Anthropic’s plans to open an office in Seoul and potential areas of cooperation.

Anthropic previously announced plans to establish a Korean office in Gangnam, but the company has delayed progress while it finalises the appointment of a local branch director.

The government is particularly interested in Anthropic’s emphasis on the safe development and deployment of generative AI.

Officials are also reviewing the possibility of expanding joint research on AI safety through cooperation between the UK AI Safety Institute and the Korea AI Safety Institute.

Until now, the ministry’s global AI partnerships have largely centred on OpenAI.

During a visit to South Korea last year, Sam Altman signed an MoU with the government covering cooperation on developing the domestic AI ecosystem, introducing AI in the public sector, and strengthening AI talent development.

South Korea has also worked with OpenAI on expanding AI infrastructure through the Stargate data centre project, a large-scale initiative led by OpenAI with partners SoftBank and Oracle.

The shift reflects a broader strategy to diversify partnerships amid intensifying global AI competition, while continuing to prioritise the development of a domestic “sovereign AI” foundation model for sensitive sectors such as defence and healthcare.

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Hong Kong, based on image by pablographix via Freepik

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