South Korea has formally initiated a sweeping national AI strategy, with the ambitious goal of offering citizens free and unrestricted access to AI services by year's end. A key stipulation is that 80% of these services must be underpinned by domestically developed AI models. This ambitious endeavor will be spearheaded by a consortium comprising three industry giants: SK Telecom, KT, and Kakao. Distinctively, it stands as the inaugural project among G20 nations to position AI as a public utility, embodying a demand-driven industrial policy. This policy aims to foster a sheltered ecosystem for homegrown AI models, leveraging public funding to facilitate data accumulation and foster continuous enhancement. Notably, Naver, boasting the most extensive user base, and hardware behemoth Samsung are conspicuously absent from this initiative. Moreover, the strategy confronts hurdles such as sustaining user engagement and transitioning to paid service models. Its ultimate success will serve as a litmus test for nations outside China and the United States, gauging their ability to carve out a niche for their domestic AI sectors by dominating the distribution channels.