After President Lee Jae-myung cited answers from the artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini to rebut criticism over the attendance of investigative agency heads, including the chief of the Major Crimes Investigation Agency, at Cabinet meetings, opposition lawmakers hit back on the 21st by citing Gemini answers of their own.
Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon wrote on Facebook that day: "When I asked Gemini, it said President Lee must ultimately stand trial." He added that Lee, "a Gemini believer," should "go stand trial in his own cases over the remittance to North Korea and election law violations, just as Gemini says." He also criticized the president, saying, "The president is running the government by consulting Gemini," and calling it "Gemini's meddling in state affairs."
Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party also released images of his conversation with Gemini. When Joo asked what would happen if a president granted a pardon, parole or suspension of sentence to an accomplice, Gemini replied that the president "would face very serious punishment and political fallout, both constitutionally and politically," adding that it "would constitute grounds for impeachment by the National Assembly, and after leaving office he would also face severe criminal punishment, including for abuse of authority." Targeting the controversy over Lee's "emperor golf," Joo also posted an image in which he asked whether a president may play golf at a time of disaster, to which Gemini answered no.
Joo said he had "received a great lesson: that a president must not release his own accomplices, must not block citizens' social media posts and must not play emperor golf at a time of disaster — and that violating these can be grounds for impeachment." He added, "I hope President Lee takes careful note."
Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party wrote on Facebook that "using AI as a reference tool in governing and presenting it as grounds for rebutting public concerns are entirely different matters," adding, "The person accountable for governing is not Gemini but President Lee Jae-myung."
He went on to ask whether it was appropriate for the head of the newly launched Major Crimes Investigation Agency to attend a Cabinet meeting presided over by the president while the president's own trial remains suspended. Responding to Lee's explanation that he would not direct investigations into specific cases, Yoon said that "the independence of investigative agencies is not guaranteed by a president's promise alone," and that "we must first examine whether job security for the agency's investigators is sufficient and whether institutional safeguards are in place to resist improper orders."