Literally wore out all my trousers until I had none left in order to get two perfect pairs of Japanese denim jeans to last me the next 10 years or more.
SITUATION EXPLAINED: South Korea is giving every citizen free AI.
• The first major state to do it, using homegrown chatbots rather than American models, framed around AI sovereignty
• The tools link directly into government systems: booking doctor's appointments, apartment hunting, tax advice, small business tax filing, and eligibility checks for support programs
• Beta testing starts in September with full rollout later this year
• A quarter of South Koreans already pay for generative AI, against 2% of Americans, and more than 20 million use free versions, about 40% of the population
• Lee Jae-myung's government has set aside roughly 10 trillion won, about $7.2 billion, for AI in 2026, triple the prior year
@theojaffee: "We've had discussions in the past about whether AI would get treated as a public utility of sorts. South Korea is going to be the first major state to do it."
@pronouncedsimon These are the same people who said it was lame to study in school. They're just adults now, but continue thinking the same thoughts as they always have.