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South Korea Explores AI Partnership with Anthropic's Claude Beyond OpenAI

South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT has held preliminary discussions with AI company Anthropic about potential cooperation in technology, public service applications, and safety. The talks followed a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Bae Kyung-hoon and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei at an AI summit in India. South Korea represents a significant market for Anthropic, ranking seventh globally in Claude usage intensity, and the company is preparing to open a Seoul office. The move aims to broaden Seoul's AI partnerships beyond its existing collaboration with OpenAI while still supporting domestic AI models for sensitive national sectors.

Key Points: South Korea in Early AI Cooperation Talks with Anthropic

  • Early-stage talks on AI tech & safety
  • Korea ranks 7th in Claude usage intensity
  • Anthropic hiring for Seoul office
  • Seoul has existing OpenAI partnership
  • Gov't backs local models for sensitive sectors
2 min read

South Korea in early talks with Anthropic on AI cooperation

Seoul holds preliminary talks with Anthropic on AI tech and safety, seeking to diversify beyond OpenAI partnerships and boost local AI ecosystem.

"But nothing has been decided on a memorandum of understanding or any specific form of cooperation. - Ministry Official"

Seoul, March 16

South Korea has held early talks with Anthropic, developer of the Claude AI model, as Seoul looks to broaden its engagement with major global artificial intelligence companies beyond OpenAI, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

As per a report from the Korea Herald, a ministry official said that Deputy Prime Minister and Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon met Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei at an AI summit in India in February, where the two discussed AI technology, industry trends and the possibility of future cooperation.

"But nothing has been decided on a memorandum of understanding or any specific form of cooperation," the official said, as per the Korea Herald report, emphasising that the talks remain at a preliminary stage.

Yonhap News Agency earlier reported that the discussion had included possible policy cooperation with Anthropic, collaboration on applying AI to public services and potential AI safety-related work. The ministry did not confirm any specific framework.

The contact is notable because Anthropic has become increasingly relevant to governments and enterprise buyers as Claude gains traction among developers and enterprise users, particularly in coding and workflow-related tasks. That momentum has helped raise Anthropic's profile beyond the narrower circle of AI researchers and startups.

South Korea is also a meaningful market for the company. In Anthropic's January 2026 Economic Index, Korea ranked seventh out of 116 countries in Claude usage intensity, a measure adjusted for each country's working-age population to show relative adoption.

Anthropic has also been building a local footprint. The US firm began hiring in Seoul last month and has been preparing a Korean office focused on enterprise sales, pending the appointment of a country manager. A local office would give Anthropic a more direct base in a market where OpenAI and Google are also expanding their enterprise AI businesses.

As per the news report, Seoul's most visible foreign AI partnership has so far centred on OpenAI. In October 2025, the Science Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI on AI ecosystem development, public-sector AI transformation and talent cultivation. The government later launched a working-level task force to pursue follow-up projects.

At the same time, the government has also backed homegrown foundation models for more sensitive fields such as defence and health care, where data security, regulatory control and national strategic interests carry greater weight.

- ANI

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Reader Comments

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Priya S
Interesting that the meeting happened at an AI summit in India! 🤔 It shows India is becoming a key global hub for these discussions. I hope our government is also having similar talks. We need to ensure Indian startups and the public sector get access to the best AI tools, not just the big American companies.
R
Rohit P
Claude is really good for coding tasks, many developers in my Bangalore office are starting to use it. South Korea ranking 7th in usage intensity is impressive. But the article rightly points out they are backing homegrown models for sensitive fields. India MUST do the same for defence and healthcare. Data sovereignty is non-negotiable.
S
Sarah B
As someone working in tech policy, I appreciate Seoul's cautious approach. "Early talks" and "nothing decided" is the responsible way to handle this. Rushing into MoUs with foreign AI firms without a clear strategy for local capacity building is a mistake some countries are making. A balanced strategy is key.
V
Vikram M
Good to see competition heating up. More players like Anthropic setting up offices in Asia means better services and possibly more affordable pricing for enterprises here. Hope they consider India for a major hub too, not just a sales office. We have the talent pool to support R&D.
K
Karthik V
While international cooperation is welcome, I have a respectful criticism. The article mentions India only as the location of the meeting. I wish our own science ministry's engagements with such firms were reported with the same prominence. Our AI story often gets sidelined in global media narratives.

We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.

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