South Korea pushes fast adoption of AI tools

On Nov. 22 in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, the “AI Top 100” competition, hosted by Kakao Impact and Brian Impact, drew significant attention in the information technology sector. The contest evaluated participants’ abilities to work with artificial intelligence, attracting individuals who described themselves as having “some experience with generative AI tools.”

The problems were framed around practical scenarios. One challenge read, “An irresponsible predecessor has left abruptly. Using his digital traces as clues, assess the current work status and complete the handover documents within a day.” The exercise measured participants’ ability to respond to situations that could occur in everyday work.

Notably, more than half of the 100 finalists were non-developers. The preliminary round, held last month, included self-employed individuals, firefighters, farmers, producers, and police officers. This stands in contrast to hackathons, a similar type of problem-solving competition, which until a few years ago were primarily dominated by developers.

The era of “click-and-create” has arrived. The term refers to the growing ability of anyone to quickly and easily generate desired results using AI. Although it sometimes carries a negative connotation of producing work hastily, non-developers can clearly create simple applications with just a few clicks and prompts. This trend has been dubbed “vibe coding,” referring to coding through natural language interactions.

But is it really accessible to everyone? I tested Google’s Gemini 3, the latest model released on Nov. 18 and seen as a challenger to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. My 343-character prompt instructed Gemini to “create a productivity assistant app consisting of a memo, a to-do list, and a generative AI chat window.” After about a minute, Gemini began issuing instructions using slightly technical terms.

I followed Gemini’s directions, creating files and copying the code provided. After four rounds of minor corrections, a fully functional app was ready. Ninety-nine percent of the desired features worked as intended. The process took exactly one hour, with an additional hour for fine-tuning. The result was a personalized app, which I have already put to practical use.

I was not alone in being impressed by Gemini 3. On November 24, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, saw its stock rise 6.3 percent on the New York Stock Exchange. The Nasdaq index increased by 2.7 percent that day, a movement analysts attributed to the so-called “Gemini 3 effect.”

The speed enabled by click-and-create is matched by the rapid development of generative AI itself. In the IT industry, experts note that “technology is advancing so quickly it is almost impossible to keep up.”

How is South Korea responding? It is somewhat reassuring that after four years, the Ministerial Council for Science and Technology has been reinstated, allowing discussion of initiatives such as the top 10 AI projects for public benefit. However, government-led programs often face criticism for inefficiency and slow implementation. President Lee Jae-myung recently said in a parliamentary policy speech, “The 2026 budget is the first budget to usher in the AI era.” With AI technology advancing rapidly under the duopoly of the United States and China, South Korea must demonstrate the speed and agility needed in the click-and-create era.