South Korean officials propose distributing citizens' dividends through artificial intelligence taxation, causing a massive quake in the stock market.

A senior policy maker in South Korea suggested that the country should distribute "dividends" to citizens using the tax revenue generated by the artificial intelligence industry, highlighting the increasing pressure faced by authorities to redistribute the benefits of this wave of technological prosperity. Kim Yong-fan, head of the policy office of the South Korean presidential palace, made remarks on Facebook that caused dramatic fluctuations in the South Korean stock market on Tuesday, with investors struggling to interpret the specific implications of his suggestion. The benchmark KOSPI index briefly fell by 5.1% during intraday trading, but Kim Yong-fan later clarified that his intention was to use the "excess tax revenue" brought about by the AI boom, rather than imposing windfall taxes on corporate profits, which helped narrow the market's decline. Shares of Samsung and SK Hynix also briefly declined, but later recovered most of their losses.