Nội dung
Debates around AI are no longer just a technology story; they have become a strategic challenge involving talent, policy, and national competitiveness. For Vietnamese marketers, signals from markets ahead such as Korea, China, and the US are early indicators of where capital, talent, and product ecosystems will shift in the next few years.
In a widely discussed post after this year’s ICML, the Jukan account argued that Korea still does not truly treat AI as a matter of survival, while China has taken a far more aggressive approach. Although this is a personal view, the statement touches on a topic that tech marketers need to watch closely: the AI race is not only about models or products, but about the ability to retain and attract top talent.
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Key points:
- The view expressed after ICML was that Korea is “only pretending” to be serious about AI, especially when it comes to attracting and retaining talent.
- The core message is that without strong policy action, a country can easily become dependent on AI technology from abroad.
- China was cited as an example of a more aggressive approach to building an AI ecosystem and competing for talent.
- For Vietnam, this is a reminder of the importance of talent strategy, university-business links, and policies that support the AI ecosystem.
A controversial view after ICML: Is Korea moving slower than expected?
In content posted on X, Jukan said one of the things they took away from this year’s ICML was that Korea has not shown a level of seriousness matching its AI ambitions. In the writer’s words, the excitement around Korean AI startups and even the university research community is being “overhyped” relative to actual capabilities.
This is a strong and somewhat shocking claim, but what matters is not the tone, rather the message behind it: in the AI race, a lively market atmosphere does not equal sustainable competitiveness. For many businesses, especially tech brands and digital agencies, this is a reminder that “AI-first” messaging only has value when it is backed by real execution capability.
Source: Jukan (@jukan05) on X, 12/07/2026.
Why the talent race is the decisive “bottleneck”
Jukan argued that if you look at China, Korea is “nothing” in terms of AI competition. Although this is a personal comparison and is not accompanied by data, the argument reflects a broader reality in the industry: AI depends not only on ideas or investment capital, but heavily on teams of researchers, engineers, and systems operations specialists.
That is why the focus Jukan emphasized was not chasing slogans, but having policies strong enough to bring Koreans abroad back home while actively recruiting international AI talent. In other words, the AI challenge is first and foremost a people challenge before it is a technology challenge.
For marketing businesses, especially in martech, data, and automation, this has a clear implication: high-quality talent determines the speed of experimentation, the ability to apply technology, and the level of product differentiation. Without strong people, an AI promise can easily stop at the level of a communications campaign.
“We need a version of the Thousand Talents Plan” and the policy message
The most notable point in the discussion was the suggestion that Korea should learn from China’s approach, even launching a program similar to the “Thousand Talents Plan” to attract talent back and bring in foreign experts. Here, what is emphasized is not the program name, but the level of proactivity in talent policy.
The message behind this proposal is that if a country relies only on the natural momentum of the market, it may fall behind during a critical phase of AI development. By contrast, a well-designed strategy covering scholarships, laboratories, compensation, research collaboration mechanisms, and a startup-friendly environment can create a rapidly compounding advantage.
For brand communications in the tech sector, this is also a lesson in storytelling. Successful markets do not just sell a “big idea”; they also create the feeling that the ecosystem is attractive enough for talented people to stay or return. That is an intangible but extremely important value in national positioning and industry positioning strategy.
A perspective for the Vietnamese market
For Vietnam, this story should not be read as a competition between countries, but as an early warning. If AI becomes the new competitive infrastructure of the digital economy, then talent, data, and an environment for experimentation will be the three factors that create long-term advantage.
That means Vietnamese businesses should not only ask, “Are we using AI yet?” but also “Who is building it, do they have enough capability, and can the organization retain top talent?” At the market level, the connection between universities, startups, large enterprises, and the public sector will determine how quickly the ecosystem takes shape.
For marketers, the practical lesson is to closely track talent and policy shifts in major AI hubs. These changes will affect tools, platforms, technology costs, and even how brands tell their innovation story in the years ahead.
This article was compiled from Jukan’s public comments on X and does not reflect an independent investigative conclusion by the editorial team.
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This article focuses on Korea and the AI talent race with a perspective for the Vietnamese market.
