North Korea appears to be using ChatGPT, the conversational AI service developed by U.S.-based OpenAI, in university-level AI research, state media reported.
Voice of Korea (VOK), a North Korean external propaganda outlet, introduced the AI Technology Research Institute at Kim Il Sung University on Feb. 21, calling it an “elite group in the AI field.” Institute research materials included a document titled “GPT-4 Example: Writing,” explaining how users can prompt ChatGPT to generate English-language text.
Han Chol-jin, a researcher at the university, told VOK that the AI service “helps us deeply grasp advanced technologies and find ways to adopt them as our own.”
North Korea has recently shown increased interest in adopting AI technologies. Earlier this month, Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper based in Japan, reported that several countries had blocked access to China’s DeepSeek AI model, citing concerns about data leaks. The newspaper claimed Western media were “labeling Chinese AI as a security threat” and that governments and companies were forming an “international blockade” against DeepSeek.
Choson Sinbo described DeepSeek as an AI “comparable to ChatGPT” but developed without advanced semiconductors. It argued that, unlike ChatGPT’s “closed system,” DeepSeek operates on an “open-source” platform, allowing for lower development costs and faster innovation through global collaboration.
“DeepSeek’s success signifies not China’s victory but the United States’ defeat,” the newspaper wrote, adding, “Sanctions and blockades cannot maintain technological superiority.”
