• Competition goal: South Korea launched a contest to develop an independent AI model using Korean technology for national self-reliance.
• Foreign code use: Three of five finalists were found to incorporate open-source code from foreign, including Chinese, AI models, prompting scrutiny.
• Expert perspectives: Some experts argue that excluding open-source software is impractical and wasteful, while others cite security risks and national ownership concerns.
• Sovereign AI push: The government seeks two winners by 2027 achieving at least 95% parity with top models, offering funding, talent access, and government-procured chips.
• Upstage controversy: Rivals alleged Upstage’s model mirrored Chinese Zhipu AI and retained copyright markers; Upstage shared logs showing scratch training but acknowledged open-source inference code usage.
• Naver and SK Telecom scrutiny: Naver admitted to using external encoders similar to Alibaba/OpenAI, and SK Telecom faced claims of inference code resembling China’s DeepSeek, while both stress their core engines are independently developed.
• Rules unclear: Competition guidelines didn’t ban foreign open-source use, the science ministry has issued no new rules, and it plans to cut one finalist while the minister welcomes debate.
• Core training stance: Seoul National University’s AI Institute director affirmed that finalists trained their models from scratch without relying on foreign tools for internal numerical tuning.

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By

Jiyoung Sohn

Jan. 13, 2026 11:00 pm ET

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The SK Telecom pavilion at an information-technology show in Seoul. Jeon Heon-Kyun/Shutterstock

SEOUL—Last June, the South Korean government launched a competition to create a new independent AI model developed with Korean technology. A homegrown tool like that was critical to ensuring Korea’s technological self-reliance in a world already dominated by U.S. and Chinese artificial intelligence.

It is proving to be easier said than done.

Of five finalist companies in the three-year competition, three have been found to use at least some open-source codes from foreign AI models, including Chinese ones.

The companies and AI experts argue it makes little sense to shun existing AI models and attempt to build everything from scratch. But others say that any use of foreign tools creates potential security risks and undercuts hopes of cultivating an AI model undeniably a nation’s own.

It isn’t realistic to require every single piece of code be written entirely in-house when pursuing AI-model development, said Gu-Yeon Wei, an electrical-engineering professor at Harvard University, who is familiar with the Korean competition but not directly involved with any of the competitors.

“To forgo open-source software,” Wei said, “you’re leaving on the table this huge amount of benefit.”

Countries worldwide are increasingly looking to reduce foreign reliance and hone their own capabilities in a technology that could profoundly affect their economic competitiveness and national security.

A chip from Nvidia’s Quantum-X platform. Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg News

South Korea, with a bevy of chip giants, software firms and political backing, represents one of the most aggressive proponents of so-called sovereign AI.

The race seeks to identify two homegrown winners by 2027 able to achieve 95% or higher parity in performance with leading AI models from the likes of OpenAI or Google. Winners get access to state funding for data and hiring talent, as well as access to government-procured chips essential for AI computing.

Controversy over one of the finalists, Upstage, erupted in recent days. Some components of its AI model bore resemblance to an open-source model from China-based Zhipu AI, according to the chief executive of Sionic AI, a local rival. In addition, Zhipu AI copyright markers were left within some of Upstage’s code, he claimed.

“It’s deeply regrettable that a model suspected to be a fine-tuned copy of a Chinese model was submitted to a project funded by taxpayers’ money,” Ko Suk-hyun, the Sionic CEO, wrote on LinkedIn. Sionic had also entered the South Korean competition, though failed to make the finalist list.

In response, Upstage held a livestreamed verification session that shared its development logs to prove its model was developed and trained from a blank state using its own methods. But the inference code used to make the model run had used open-source elements that originated from Zhipu AI, which is widely used globally. Sionic’s CEO apologized.

The scrutiny prompted closer looks of the other finalists. Naver’s AI model was accused of bearing similarities to offerings from China’s Alibaba and OpenAI in its visual and audio encoders that translate images and sounds into a format that a machine can understand.

Naver’s headquarters in Seongnam, south of Seoul. Yonhap News/ZUMA Press

SK Telecom faced criticism that the inference codes for running its AI model bore similarities with those of China’s DeepSeek.

Naver admitted to using external encoders, but said it was a strategic decision to use a standardized technology. It stressed that the model’s core engine—which determines how it learns and is trained—were developed entirely by the company. SK Telecom made a similar argument, stressing the independence of its model’s core.

The competition’s rules didn’t explicitly state whether open-source code from foreign firms could be used or not. South Korea’s science ministry, which is overseeing the competition, hasn’t given out any new guidelines since the controversy. The country’s science minister, Bae Kyung-hoon, welcomed the robust debate.

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“As I watched the technological debates currently stirring our AI industry, I actually saw a bright future for South Korean AI,” Bae wrote in a social-media post earlier this month.

The ministry declined to comment when asked by The Wall Street Journal. It plans to eliminate one of the five finalists from the competition this week as scheduled.

AI models are developed by setting and fine-tuning internal numerical values to get an output, and those core tasks don’t appear to have relied on foreign tools in the models of the finalists that have faced questions, said Jae W. Lee, director of Seoul National University’s AI Institute.

“They trained from scratch,” he said.

Write to Jiyoung Sohn at jiyoung.sohn@wsj.com

Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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Videos

• Data centers as target: Environmental nonprofits now oppose data center development using tactics similar to past campaigns against oil, gas, nuclear, and chemical industries.
• Call for realism: America needs bipartisan energy and electricity policies that prioritize abundance, cost, and reliability amid accelerating AI demand.
• Climate movement critique: After Paris Accords, net-zero rhetoric led to trillions spent on green schemes without practical returns.
• Energy infrastructure losses: Zero-emission nuclear sites closed prematurely while coal reduction outpaced replacement, with blocked gas pipelines despite fracking benefits.
• CEO failures noted: Many CEOs failed to oppose unworkable energy policies, allowing climate activists to dominate decisions.
• Data centers equated to essential industry: Described as factories of the digital economy whose restriction raises compute costs and offshores technology.
• National competitiveness stake: AI, cloud computing, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and defense all hinge on abundant domestic compute capacity.
• Leadership demand: Executives should publicly oppose data center moratoriums and educate on true energy requirements.

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Data center moratoriums are the new fracking bans. Environmental nonprofits are deploying the same playbook against data centers that they have used against oil, gas, nuclear and chemical companies over the past decade, and many business leaders are again tempted to stay silent.

But America is at a crucial moment that demands bipartisan realism on energy and electricity, the lifeblood of economic prosperity and global power. As artificial intelligence accelerates, abundance, cost and reliability must take precedence. Anything less will weaken national security, stifle growth and fuel inflation.

After the 2015 Paris Accords, the environmental movement initiated its attack on the carbon molecules underpinning electricity, fuel and pharmaceuticals. “Net zero,” “decarbonization” and “energy transition” became organizing principles for governments, profit centers for consultants, and buzzwords for corporate pledges rooted in financial engineering over reality. Trillions in taxpayer dollars have since been squandered on “Green New Deal” schemes in the U.S. and Europe.

We were told that eliminating carbon emissions was a moral necessity to deter an “existential” threat to humanity. Yet zero-emission nuclear plants were shut down before replacements were ready. Coal generation was dismantled faster than it could be replaced with reliable alternatives. Gas pipelines were blocked even as hydraulic fracturing unleashed energy abundance and affordability and strengthened America’s global position. In the past decade, the U.S. has removed more than 100 gigawatts of reliable coal and nuclear generation. Europe deindustrialized with even greater zeal, producing higher costs, poorer citizens and populist backlash.

Looking back, too many CEOs failed to challenge energy policies they knew were unworkable. Some supported them outright, either because they misunderstood physics or because political pressure made dissent risky. Climate activists were handed the reins as targets replaced trade-offs and aspirations replaced economic sense.

The arsonists are donning the firefighter helmets again. Trying to stop data center construction while expecting continued economic growth is no different from trying to stop oil, gas and nuclear production while expecting reliable, affordable electricity.

Data centers aren’t a luxury. They are the factories of the 21st-century economy, converting energy into processing capacity the way refineries convert oil into gasoline and chemical plants convert minerals into batteries. Treating them as something society can simply “pause” doesn’t reduce demand for digital services; it constrains the supply of compute, raising costs and outsourcing technological progress elsewhere.

The U.S. can’t afford to repeat its energy mistakes. Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, finance, healthcare, manufacturing and defense all require abundant, affordable compute power built at home. CEOs need not speculate about whether data center moratoriums will hurt their businesses—they already know the answer.

Leadership now means speaking up, telling the truth about what energy and electricity actually require and saying no to data center moratoriums.

Mr. Huntsman is chairman and CEO of Huntsman Corp., a petrochemical manufacturer.

Journal Editorial Report: The week's best and worst from Kim Strassel, Allysia Finley and Dan Henninger. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images/Isabel Infantes/Reuters/Michael Brochstein/Zuma Press

Dark Woke won’t be vanquished. In the wake of Renee Good’s death in Minneapolis, the movement is reasserting itself from the Midwest to the Pacific coast, pushing Democrats to embrace combative cultural stances — and white, Millennial women are its shock troops.

The New York Times defined “Dark Woke” last year as “an attempt to step outside the bounds of the political correctness that Republicans have accused Democrats of establishing.” In the Gray Lady’s telling, it “requires being crass but discerning, rude but only to a point.” Examples range from Gavin Newsom’s meme warfare to Jasmine Crockett’s alliterative insults (“Will a vindictive, vile villain violate voters’ vision?”). GQ, meanwhile, observed that the objective is to “subvert the qualities that people think made wokeness cringe — the virtue policing, the polite ‘when they go low, we go high’ posturing — and go Joker mode to make Democrats cool again.” 

These aren’t mutually exclusive definitions. Dark Woke is a meme with amorphous contours. Sometimes, it’s merely rhetorical; other times, it offers serious strategies to challenge MAGA with a dose of its own post-liberal medicine. Either way, it’s rooted in the same demand posed by grassroots Democrats to the party establishment: throw some punches, or we’ll primary you into oblivion.

Since Good’s demise on the icy streets of Minnesota, videos of enraged anti-ICE protesters are proliferating on social media. In one clip posted by the Fox News reporter Matt Finn, an ICE agent goes up to two shiny SUVs blocking traffic, warning the women in them not to “make a bad decision.” The women, both of whom appear to be Millennials, aren’t intimidated. “I think I’m making exactly the right decision,” one says. When the officer signs off with, “Thank you, have a good day,” she replies with a grin: “I hope you have a terrible day.” In another viral clip, a gaggle of whistling women surround a reporter; one gleefully taunts him as another screams, “Nazi!” 

Or there’s the TikTok video circulating on X, in which a blue-eyed, salt-and-pepper-haired woman who describes herself as a 42-year-old single mother and “relationship anarchist” slips sexily into her Carhartt overalls while spelling out a “dating-profile request” for a man whom she can “call, right now, and say, ‘Hey, get in the passenger seat and let’s go fuck some shit up.’” 

These street soldiers aren’t the antifa types torching cars or the rioters looting stores. They are, like Good, Millennial moms in the Midwest. They’re people from normal quarters of American life who are spending time during the workday putting their bodies and vehicles on the line to protect illegal migrants, some with serious criminal records, from deportation. And they see ICE as a neo-Gestapo that calls for more than rhetorical condemnation.

The Washington Post this week wrote about the growing activist coalition: “As the Trump administration deploys thousands of federal immigration officers and agents around the nation, a loose-knit but increasingly organized network of activists is tracking their whereabouts and documenting arrests.” With whistles and messaging apps, these ICE “watchers” or “verifiers” are often trained by nonprofit groups, according to the Post article, which adds that they are “dispatched to spot arrests, record interactions, and, where possible, get contact information for family members of those arrested.”

This partly explains why Dark Woke is growing amid President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Tracking ICE supplies a sense of agency and community at a time when people feel powerless and atomized. It is also a clue as to why there are so many upscale white women in the ranks of the Dark Woke army. 

Last fall, the GOP pollster Alex Tarascio “asked likely voters if they agreed that it’s acceptable to go beyond peaceful protest in response to ICE enforcement, even if it breaks the law,” as he put it in an X post. “Overall, just 24% of Americans agreed. But among white women, 18 to 44, who identify as liberal? The number shoots up to 61%.” Half that number, only 30%, disagreed. Among all liberals, the number was nearly 20 points lower, at 42%. And among all likely voters, the number dropped to less than a quarter of the population.  

Why are white liberal women especially eager for battle? People like Good are motivated by a sincere commitment to social justice, to be sure. Good was so moved by the prospect of ICE deportations in Minneapolis that she joined a midday protest after dropping off her 6-year-old at school.

However, there is also no shortage of research in recent years showing that young women on the Left struggle more with mental health than do other cohorts. In 2024, Times columnist Thomas Edsall dug into studies on the “happiness gap,” noting “one of the findings emerging from this research is that the decline in happiness and in a sense of agency is concentrated among those on the Left who stress matters of identity, social justice and the oppression of marginalized groups.”

In 2025, a study published by Zach Goldberg at the Right-of-center Manhattan Institute found that “females and liberals tend to rank higher than their male and conservative counterparts in certain personality traits that are associated with greater susceptibility to internalizing symptoms. These symptoms are characterized by inwardly directed emotional distress, including feelings of sadness, worry, and fear, which can manifest as conditions like depression and anxiety.” 

Research from the Institute for Family Studies has likewise found that “when we control for education, race, age, and income, …  liberal women ages 18 to 40 are over three times as likely to report frequent feelings of loneliness compared to their conservative peers.”  

Renee Good, of course, was married and — at least in the tragic record of her final minutes — cheerful in demeanor. Unhappiness and lapsed agency may or may not explain her personal decision. However, it’s fair to speculate that rational disapproval of Trump is not the only explanation for why more and more young progressive women are training as “ICE watchers” and joining physical protests. Tellingly, the Institute for Family Studies found that “a large part of [the] loneliness gap comes from different rates of marriage and church attendance. … Adding controls for marriage and church attendance, ideology becomes less important, with marriage being the strongest predictor of feeling less lonely.”

Feelings of misery and powerlessness, especially acute on the young female Left, will ensure Dark Woke lingers, and reemerges as opportunities for catharsis present themselves. These opportunities will be especially compelling when they offer a perceived sense of community, or of self-sacrifice for the common good. 

Satisfaction, though, will prove illusory, because the source of the young women’s pain is not really injustice, except in the sense that a grave injustice has been committed against happiness in the destruction of our communities, social bonds, and overall humanity.

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• Synagogue Fire: Arsonist targeted Congregation Beth Israel in Jackson, setting fire around 3 a.m. that damaged the library, administration offices, and Torah scrolls.
• Suspect Details: Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, faces federal charges for maliciously damaging a building by fire or explosive; GPS and texts linked him to crime.
• Motivation: Pittman allegedly cited the synagogue’s “Jewish ties,” used the phrase “Synagogue of Satan,” and confessed to his father before arrest.
• Community Response: Jackson’s faith organizations offered worship spaces, and state leaders pledged support and cooperation with investigations.
• State Action: Gov. Tate Reeves directed the Department of Public Safety to assist federal partners, while Commissioner Sean Lindell vowed state and federal charges.
• Historical Context: Attack follows spike in antisemitic incidents, referencing prior violent attacks like the Tree of Life massacre and other recent assaults.
• Suspect Profile: Pittman, from Madison, excelled in baseball at St. Joseph and Coahoma Community College and posted about faith before radicalization.
• Potential Influences: Social media revealed antisemitic imagery and rhetoric, prompting questions about factors driving his shift from everyday interests to arson.

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Hate found its way to Mississippi’s largest Jewish house of worship, Congregation Beth Israel, when an arsonist intentionally set fire to the synagogue at about 3 a.m. Saturday, damaging the only synagogue in Jackson.

The alleged suspect’s name, Stephen Spencer Pittman, was released late Monday. According to the FBI, he faces charges of maliciously damaging or destroying a building by fire or an explosive.

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Russ Latino, a native Mississippian and founder of the Jackson-based Magnolia Tribune Institute, said an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi alleges Pittman admitted to law enforcement that he set the fire at Beth Israel because of its “Jewish ties.” Latino added that Pittman referred to the synagogue as the “Synagogue of Satan” and detailed the steps he took leading up to the arson.

Latino noted that “Synagogue of Satan” is an antisemitic phrase that both Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens have used in recent years. “Nothing in his personal profile points out anything political. There is no Trump or Biden or Harris. There are just a lot of bible verses,” he said, adding, “But ‘Synagogue of Satan’ well, that is a pretty specific alliteration and the same phraseology used by Fuentes and Owens,” he said.

His social media presence on X shows a young man posting about his Christian faith and baseball, where he was a standout player in both high school and college.

Latino said the entire Jackson community has rallied around the Beth Israel congregants. “Many different faith organizations had reached out and offered their houses of worship for the Beth Israel members so they can practice their faith,” he said.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves echoed that community sentiment, saying the state of Mississippi stands with the members of the congregation. “This heinous act will never be tolerated, and the perpetrator should face the full and solemn weight of their actions. I have directed the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to support our federal law enforcement partners in any manner necessary as they investigate this horrible situation and pursue state charges,” he said.

Public Safety Commissioner Sean Lindell said the department was fully engaged and working closely with its federal and local partners to hold those responsible accountable. “We will pursue charges at both the state and federal levels to see that justice is served,” Lindell said.

The arson follows years of violent attacks against the nation’s Jewish community, dating back to October 2018, when Robert Bowers murdered 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, the worst massacre of Jews in American history.

Julie Parish, who lives in Squirrel Hill and is the Mid-Atlantic regional director of StandWithUS, said she is horrified by the deliberate arson at Beth Israel Congregation. “To target Mississippi’s largest and oldest house of worship, desecrating sacred Torah scrolls and destroying a library and administration offices is an act of unmitigated evil,” Parish said.

Parish, who has documented scores of graffiti attacks in Pittsburgh’s largest Jewish neighborhood, said while this fire was an attempt to intimidate and harm, “It will not succeed.”

Violence targeting Jews and Jewish institutions surged after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas-led terrorists. Since then, a Jordanian national broke into a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, because he believed the company supported Israel, causing nearly $500,000 in damage.

Last May, two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed by a lone gunman in Washington, D.C. A month later in Boulder, Colorado, Mohamed Sabry Soliman allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at a march supporting Israeli hostages. Prosecutors say Soliman attacked the group with incendiary devices, injuring at least seven people and killing one.

The Anti-Defamation League reported 8,873 antisemitic incidents in the United States in 2023, a 140% increase from 2022. In 2024, the total climbed again, reaching 9,354 incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and assault nationwide.

Last April, on the first night of Passover, Cody Balmer scaled an iron security fence at the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the middle of the night. Carrying used beer bottles filled with gasoline, Balmer allegedly evaded police and security as he attempted to carry out a terrorism plot to kill Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Footage shows Balmer made it as far as the doors near where Shapiro and his family, including his wife and children, were sleeping, but he was unable to get inside. He then set a second fire and fled, never once encountering state police.

Balmer told police he intended to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he encountered him. He also said Shapiro needed to know that Balmer “will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do with the Palestinian people.”

Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison in October.

Beth Israel’s library and surrounding rooms suffered severe damage, with smoke spreading throughout the building. The two Torahs kept in the library were destroyed.

Latino said the sanctuary was also damaged, along with five Torahs housed there. However, an eighth Torah, rescued during the Holocaust and displayed in a glass case, survived.

Pittman, 19, who goes by his middle name, lives in Madison just outside Jackson. According to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, he faces federal charges for using fire to maliciously damage or destroy a building involved in interstate commerce.

When he appeared in court, the judge asked him if he understood his rights to an attorney, and Pittman responded, “Yes, sir, Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Federal investigators were able to identify him pretty quickly because of text messages he allegedly sent to his father in the course of setting the fire on Saturday. “That was in the affidavit. His father was pleading with him to come home but he replied ‘I did my research,’” Latino said.

Pittman is alleged to have confessed to his father, who then contacted the FBI.

GPS data indicated that Pittman was at the synagogue.

Local news reports show Pittman was an honor student and an outstanding baseball athlete who graduated from St. Joseph in 2024. Since then, he has been an outfielder at Coahoma Community College.

JOSH SHAPIRO ADMITS VIOLENCE ALMOST DROVE HIM FROM RACE

Three days ago, around the time of the attack, a post on what investigators believe is Pittman’s Instagram account suggested his interests extended beyond baseball. The account featured an image of Princess Clara, an animated character from Drawn Together known for religious fanaticism and bigotry, pushing Mumble O’Algo, a secondary character depicted wearing a Star of David and carrying bags of money, into a pool while shouting, “A Jew in my back yard! I can’t believe my Jew crown didn’t work. You are getting baptized right now!”

The question is who radicalized this young man, with seemingly no ideological bent, from posts about baseball and faith to attempting to burn down a house of worship and using phraseology like “Synagogue of Satan.”