#18 Asia AI Policy Monitor
South Korea 1 trillion won AI investment, South Korea 2025 AI Privacy Roadmap, Asia tops survey on AI Jobs Impact, ASEAN Expanded AI Guidelines, India Copyright Case against OpenAI and more!
Happy Lunar New Year of the Snake! We are celebrating our first year in production as well! Thanks for reading this month’s newsletter along with over 1,700 other AI policy professionals across multiple platforms to understand the latest regulations affecting the AI industry in the Asia-Pacific region.
Do not hesitate to contact our editors if we missed any news on Asia’s AI policy at seth@apacgates.com!
Governance
ASEAN published the “Expanded ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics – Generative AI”:
This Guide defines a range of policy recommendations for ASEAN to consider for promoting the trusted and responsible use of Gen AI in the region while addressing the risks mentioned above. These policy recommendations draw on global leading practices and emphasise the importance of a coordinated, pro-innovation regional response to this new technology. 1. Accountability 2. Data 3. Trusted Development and Deployment 4. Incident Reporting 5. Testing and Assurance 6. Security 7. Content Provenance 8. Safety and Alignment Research & Development 9. AI for Public Good
South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT announced 2025 plans for AI and advanced technology development.
Strengthening Digital and Scientific Growth:
Establishment of a National AI Computing Center and policy reforms to enhance AI infrastructure.
Development of strategic technologies like biofoundries, quantum computing, and space technologies.
Promotion of tech commercialization through specialized firms and collaborative platforms.
Improving R&D and Talent Development:
Expansion of funding for basic research and innovation, including youth-oriented financial support.
Strategic investments in AI and digital innovation to generate jobs and foster tech talent.
Supporting Public Welfare and Regional Development:
Addressing digital crimes and enhancing accessibility through initiatives like affordable telecom plans.
Strengthening regional innovation with laws to empower local science and tech ecosystems, proposed Digital Safety Law in 2025.
Privacy
ASEAN published its Guidelines on Data Anonymization.
Engaging in anonymisation of personal data has several key benefits. These include: (a) Building trust in organisations’ data protection practices; (b) Enabling the safe use of data while preserving the data’s utility and individuals’ privacy during analysis and research, which may be carried out with partners through the sharing of anonymised data; (c)Promoting data sharing and collaboration as anonymised data can be shared with third parties and across jurisdictions safely and without infringing individuals’ privacy; (d) Demonstrating good governance over data and increasing consumers’ confidence that their personal data is protected when data is shared amongst businesses and across borders; (e) Enhancing individuals’ privacy and safeguards against data misuse and exploitation, especially when used in combination with governance measures / controls to minimise unauthorised access to data; and (f) reducing the impact or harm to individuals in the event of a data breach, including identity theft.
South Korea’s Personal Information Privacy Commission set out at 2025 Key Policy Implementation Plan.
In 2025, we plan to further strengthen AI and data policies, such as reorganizing personal information laws to meet the AI era, so that these efforts can lead to tangible results in the field, and at the same time, to proactively respond to privacy infringement threats due to the deepening of AI and digital transformation, thereby securing social trust in the handling of personal information. To this end, we will pursue six key tasks under three major strategies.
① Innovation in personal information regulation system in the AI era
② Establishing a foundation for sustainable new industry innovation
③ Securing leadership in global personal information standards
④ The MyData era begins, and performance creation begins in earnest
⑤ Strengthening the role of the personal information protection control tower
⑥ Establishing a tight and strong personal information safety net
Intellectual Property
Indian publishers brought a case against OpenAI last year about copyright infringement and data training, and the case is progressing with an OpenAI reply.
In the Jan. 10 submission, OpenAI said that it is currently defending litigation in the United States concerning the data on which its models have been trained, with laws there requiring it to preserve the data while hearings are pending.
OpenAI “is therefore under a legal obligation, under the laws of the United States to preserve, and not delete, the said training data,” it said.
Multilateral
Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang outlines China’s policies on multilateralism and inclusive development in a speech at Davos.
In today’s world, the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening, cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technology and biomedicine are flourishing, and digital, green and intelligent development is picking up pace…
In recent years, the North-South divide has become more pronounced, and the gaps in technology, digital access and AI are still widening. We should uphold the principle of harnessing scientific achievements for the benefit of all humanity, we should help developing countries build AI, intelligent transportation, smart energy and other new infrastructure, and promote the application of information technology in key livelihood sectors…
The US Department of Commerce initiated AI Diffusion Control - targeting restrictions on AI technology to adversary countries such as China.
First, the rule updates controls for advanced computing chips by requiring authorizations for exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) involving a broad set of additional countries…
Second, the rule institutes new controls on the model weights of the most advanced closed-weight AI models. These controls will initially apply to the weights of models trained with 10^26 computational operations or more, and authorizations will be required to export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) such weights to a broad set of countries. Additionally, the rule creates a new foreign direct product rule that applies these controls to certain model weights produced abroad using advanced computing chips made with U.S. technology or equipment. As with advanced computing chips, however, this rule includes several license exceptions for model weights:
Exception for deployments by U.S., ally and partner-headquartered entities… [these include: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom]
Third, BIS will impose security conditions to safeguard the storage of the most advanced models in destinations to protect U.S. national security and to mitigate the risk of diversion for advanced computing chips.
Military
The Philippines Armed Forces is examining the use of AI in military affairs.
At the GRC Conclave cybersecurity forum in Makati, AFP Spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said they are reviewing how they can utilize new technologies like AI. She said they are already using AI for simple tasks, mentioning ChatGPT.
In the News & Analysis
A recent survey finds that Asian countries top the list for believing AI will impact jobs.
Asia AI Policy Monitor editor Seth Hays shared his views with the International Association of Privacy Practitioners (IAPP) on the recently passed South Korean AI Basic Act.
Seth Hays said the bill reflects areas of interest South Korea has already been focused on. It requires generative AI content to be labeled, a development coming as the country is in the middle of a seven-month crackdown on explicit deepfake content and after a taskforce was launched dedicated to eradicating the issue. How the labeling requirement will be enforced will come in future regulations.
It also focuses heavily on promoting the AI industry by expressly calling for the funding of data centers, attracting and developing AI talent and making data more accessible.
This Singapore RSIS piece looks at the developments in responsible use of military AI in 2024 and looks to what may come in 2025, in particular in Asia.
Finally, it will be important to track whether the conversation on military AI governance will become more inclusive in 2025. The inclusion of military AI and LAWS on the agenda of the UN General Assembly could already be interpreted as progress on this front, but it remains to be seen whether other platforms will invite greater participation. If we consider Southeast Asia, just three countries from the region (Brunei, the Philippines, and Singapore) endorsed the REAIM Blueprint for Action, and only Singapore endorsed the US Political Declaration.
ASEAN has yet to substantively address the issue of military AI governance, and think tanks in the region have suggested that the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) could take the lead on this. Furthermore, with the ADMM-Plus platform that involves ASEAN’s Dialogue Partner countries — most of whom are key players in military AI, including China, the United States, Australia, India, Japan, and South Korea — the region is well positioned to plug into the larger multilateral conversation. The Philippines, which has been active at multilateral platforms on military AI governance in recent years, may well make this a reality if it ends up taking over Myanmar’s 2026 slot as rotating chair of ASEAN.
Advocacy
New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner issued public consultation on its draft Biometric Processing Privacy Code of Practice. The Code includes 12 prospective rules until 14 March.
India’s MeitY issued a public consultation until 27 January on draft AI Governance and Guidelines Development.
The Subcommittee’s report highlights the importance of a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to enforce compliance and ensure effective governance as India's AI ecosystem evolves. Its recommendations, based on extensive deliberations and a review of the current legal and regulatory context, aim to foster AI-driven innovation while safeguarding public interests.
Australia’s Treasury opened a public comment period until February 15 on digital competition.
This proposal paper seeks information and views to inform policy development on a proposed new digital competition regime with upfront rules to promote effective competition in digital platform markets by addressing anti-competitive conduct and conduct that creates barriers to entry or exploits the market power of certain digital platforms
The Asia AI Policy Monitor is the monthly newsletter for Digital Governance Asia, a non-profit organization with staff in Taipei and Seattle. If you are interested in contributing news, analysis, or participating in advocacy to promote Asia’s rights-promoting innovation in AI, please reach out to our secretariat staff at APAC GATES or Seth Hays at seth@apacgates.com.