A civic research institute on artificial intelligence(AI) will open in South Korea as early as June.
 
On Thursday, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning submitted a report to President Park Geun-hye on strategies to secure and develop "intelligence information technologies" such as AI on a state level.
 
Intelligence information technology is a broader concept than AI and refers to the combination of intelligence and related information such as big data, Internet of Things and cloud computing.
 
Six local firms are believed to be taking part in the envisioned AI research center, including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor, Web portal Naver, SK Telecom and the KT Corporation.
 
Artificial intelligence has drawn the interest of the South Korean public in recent days following the high-profile series of matches between Go master Lee Se-dol and Google's AI supercomputer AlphaGo.