How many AI researchers are there in South Korea?

18 045 researchers in the Founding Hires index have an institution in South Korea, 2.6% of all profiles with a known country, as of September 2026. The index counts people who published AI research, so this is a floor on the field, not a census.

Where do you find AI researchers in South Korea?

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 2 365, Seoul National University, 2 136, Yonsei University, 1 183. Their most common subject is Topic Modeling, 7.4% of the country's subject assignments.

What is South Korea strongest in?

Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning, at 1.5 times the world share.

Is the pool of AI researchers in South Korea growing?

Yes, at the world's pace. Since 2024, 3 581 people in South Korea published for the first time, against 2 146 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.7 where the world sits at 1.7.

AI researchers in South Korea

The short answer

18 045 researchers in the index have an institution in South Korea, the 6th largest count among 131 countries.

Information Retrieval and Search Behavior is the subject newcomers in South Korea pick up fastest: 83 started on it since 2024, and its share of new entrants is 4.8 times its share in the previous window.

Per million inhabitants, South Korea has 349 AI researchers in the index against 85 worldwide, 4.1 times the world figure.

What stands out

South Korea holds 2.6% of the researchers with a known country and 0.6% of the world's population, 4.1 times its demographic weight.

The subject where South Korea weighs most against the rest of the world is Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning: 3.6% of its subject assignments work on it, 1.5 times the world share of 2.5%.

Subjects

The single most common subject is Topic Modeling, on which 7.4% of South Korea's subject assignments fall.

Subject reports: Multimodal Machine Learning Applications, Natural Language Processing Techniques, Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning.

Subjects of 18 045 indexed researchers in South Korea, OpenAlex taxonomy, one person can carry several subjects.
Subject	Researchers	Share here	Share worldwide
Topic Modeling	2 758	7.4%	7.8%
Advanced Neural Network Applications	2 028	5.4%	4.3%
Multimodal Machine Learning Applications	1 710	4.6%	3.8%
Natural Language Processing Techniques	1 635	4.4%	4.2%
Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis	1 358	3.6%	2.6%
Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning	1 341	3.6%	2.5%
Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)	382	1.0%	1.5%
Education and Learning Interventions	349	0.9%	0.0%

Newcomers by year

Newcomers since 2024 number 3 581 in South Korea, against 2 146 between 2021 and 2023: a ratio of 1.7, where the world sits at 1.7.

Measured on 2025 alone, entry into South Korea ran at 0.7 times its three-year average, where the world ran at 0.8.

Researchers by year of first publication, up to 2025, the last full year indexed.
First publication	New in South Korea	Share of the world's newcomers
2019	450	2.3%
2020	467	2.3%
2021	599	2.5%
2022	869	2.6%
2023	678	2.3%
2024	713	2.5%
2025	521	2.2%

Institutions

31% of the country's researchers sit in three institutions, led by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is the largest, with 2 365 indexed researchers, barely ahead of Seoul National University at 2 136. No single place dominates here. Everyone else sits in places too small to name without pointing at individuals.

Largest institutions by indexed researchers, named from twenty people.
Institution	Researchers	Share of the country
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology	2 365	13%
Seoul National University	2 136	12%
Yonsei University	1 183	6.6%

Compared with its peers

The two countries closest in size are France and Canada. Same order of magnitude, different profile. Even the share early in a career lands in the same place, 43% against 49%, which is rarer than it sounds.

Same measures, three countries of similar size.
	South Korea	France	Canada
Researchers	18 045	16 119	15 943
Per million inhabitants	349	236	398
In a company	9.2%	8.6%	11%
Early career	43%	46%	51%
Newcomers, recent against previous window	1.7	1.0	1.5

Method

A country is where the institution sits, so someone who has moved and not yet published from the new address still counts at the old one. Counts move between two refreshes because the index grows every night. The method page sets out the sources and what each field leaves out.

Common questions

How many AI researchers are there in South Korea?: 18 045 researchers in the Founding Hires index have an institution in South Korea, 2.6% of all profiles with a known country, as of September 2026. The index counts people who published AI research, so this is a floor on the field, not a census.
Where do you find AI researchers in South Korea?: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 2 365, Seoul National University, 2 136, Yonsei University, 1 183. Their most common subject is Topic Modeling, 7.4% of the country's subject assignments.
What is South Korea strongest in?: Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning, at 1.5 times the world share.
Is the pool of AI researchers in South Korea growing?: Yes, at the world's pace. Since 2024, 3 581 people in South Korea published for the first time, against 2 146 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.7 where the world sits at 1.7.