The South Korean government will establish a dedicated marketplace where artificial intelligence (AI) agent services and related technologies can be compared and traded in one place. The initiative aims to foster a private-sector-led agentic AI ecosystem.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) announced on June 28 that they will build the 'AI Agent Marketplace' from this year through next year. The project will be funded by 5.6 billion won in government contributions along with private matching investments. The platform is scheduled to open within this year, with further advancements planned for next year.
The marketplace is an online platform designed to gather and compare everything from AI agent services to agentic AI tools. Applications and technologies developed by both corporations and individuals are eligible for entry. Since the primary goal is to revitalize the ecosystem, the platform aims to be as open a market as possible.
Once the marketplace opens, it is expected to establish a supplier-centric market. From the perspective of demanding enterprises, a virtuous cycle is anticipated, as service accessibility increases and information asymmetry is resolved.
The ultimate goal is to enable users to find customized services by comparing prices, features, and performance. For future upgrades, officials are also reviewing plans to allow AI agents to autonomously search for and add necessary services themselves.
Except for the core principle of providing 'safe and reliable services,' the criteria for entry will be left entirely to the private sector. The government policy dictates that while the state provides the budget, the operation must be thoroughly led by the private sector. If unsafe or unreliable services spread across the market, they may not be suitable for corporate business systems and could lead to various issues. Therefore, the government will only present a minimal baseline.
“We believed that fixing the entry criteria and targets beforehand would hinder the creation of a free market,” said an official at NIA, explaining the background. “To establish a healthy ecosystem, we will only provide the grand premise that services must be safe and reliable. Detailed criteria and market entry barriers will be determined under the leadership of the contracted business operator.”
The marketplace operation and the implementation of user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) will also be left entirely to the market. Software companies or consortia wishing to participate in the project can freely propose the marketplace structure, participation criteria, and operational plans.
Issues that could act as obstacles to ecosystem vitalization, such as commission rates, will be determined through consultation. In the early stages of the launch, a plan to waive or minimize commissions is being strongly considered.
“Our goal is to gather safe and reliable AI agent services and technologies in a marketplace to provide choices to citizens and businesses,” said an official at MSIT. “We plan to nurture it into a hub that can contribute to the development of South Korea's AI agent ecosystem.”
