South Korea climbed to the first-tier group of countries last year in terms of how well its state policies for artificial intelligence are aligned with democratic values, a U.S. nongovernmental organization said Wednesday.

In 2021, South Korea moved up by one notch to the first-tier group with 11 points, compared with 8.5 points the previous year, according to a report by the Center for AI and Digital Policy. Canada, Germany and Italy also stayed on the top tier last year.

The Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Values Index (AIDV) was introduced in 2020 to make a worldwide assessment of national AI policies and their alignment with democratic values based on 12 metrics, including the progress of a country following the OECD's principles of using AI.

The index measures how a country's AI policies are harmonized with democratic values, such as transparency and the presence of an independent watchdog.

"Korea introduced new requirements for AI impact assessments, published guidance on AI Personal Information Protection and expanded algorithmic transparency," the center said in the report.

South Korea's data protection watchdog, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), published guidelines for the protection of personal information gathered and used by artificial intelligence last year, following a controversy over a South Korean startup's AI chatbot.

The PIPC imposed a hefty penalty of 103.3 million won ($92,900) on the startup for leaking a massive amount of personal information in the process of developing and commercializing the chatbot Lee Luda.

The chatbot also raised ethical questions over its learning algorithms and data collection process for discriminatory and offensive language against sexual minorities and disabled people. (Yonhap)