AI and cybersecurity regulation is no longer a legal team’s after-the-fact review but a mandatory step in product planning and export preparation. IT trade publication Byline Network traced this shift through the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards’ regulatory-response seminar, where CONNECT AI co-founder Songyi Yang took part as committee chair.
Where it ran. This news was reported by Korea’s Byline Network (byline.network), a publication specializing in the IT and tech industry. It was written by reporter Kwak Jung-hee on May 21, 2026, and the article spotlighted a seminar hosted by the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, the “2026 AI & Cybersecurity Regulatory Response Seminar”.
Why AI & cybersecurity regulation is a gateway to export
The seminar discussed key regulatory-response strategies including EU AI Act, the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), China’s TC260, and Korea’s AI Basic Act. The article’s core message is clear: AI and cybersecurity regulation is no longer a legal issue reviewed after the fact, but a mandatory step that must be built in from the product-planning and export-preparation stage.
Buyers demand “regulatory-response documents”
Especially noteworthy is that overseas buyers have begun to demand regulatory-response documents during contracting. The article gives the following examples of such documents.
- AI feature inventory — which AI features are built into the product
- Data flow diagram — where and how data is processed
- SBOM — a software bill of materials
- Vulnerability response procedures — the response framework for security issues
In effect, regulatory response is becoming a precondition for closing deals.
CONNECT AI’s view — Songyi Yang
CONNECT AI co-founder Songyi Yang attended the event as the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards’ Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) AI & Cybersecurity Committee Chair. She stressed that the more a company operates in global markets, the more it must respond based on the regulations of the countries it is entering.
What matters is not whether our company is in Korea, but which country’s users we provide our products and services to.— Songyi Yang, CONNECT AI co-founder (TBT AI & Cybersecurity Committee Chair)
Regulation is not merely a barrier to clear. The article describes how regulatory-response capability itself is turning into a company’s competitive edge.
A structure is forming in which regulatory-response capability connects to export competitiveness.— Songyi Yang, CONNECT AI co-founder
In an era where buyers first verify a company’s trustworthiness and regulatory compliance, CONNECT AI aims to help companies prove their “trust” in overseas markets on top of this very trend.
Source: Byline Network
“AI and cybersecurity regulation has become a new gateway for exporters” · By Kwak Jung-hee · May 21, 2026
This page summarizes and quotes the core of the original; the full article is available at Byline Network.