Samsung, SK, LG accelerate workplace use of generative AI after years of caution over technology leaks
South Korea's largest conglomerates are accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence tools across their workplaces, marking a shift from years of caution over technology leaks to a broader push to remake how employees work.
Samsung, SK and LG recently expanded AI training for executives and employees, seeking to apply frontier models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot to everyday tasks as part of a broader push to advance AI transformation.
"It is time to enter AI transformation at full speed, in all directions," SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said during the 2026 New Icheon Forum held from Thursday to Saturday.
"More than 90 percent of our members are already using AI, but we need AI that goes beyond personal use and helps connect what we do to the performance of the entire organization,"Chey said, proposing the introduction of "one agent per person" across the group.
Chey also said he plans to create multiple AI agents of his own to communicate with executives and employees across SK companies.
"I will not create just one agent, but countless agents to communicate with management and members of each company. Dozens of chairman avatars will go into each company, listen, work with other agents and communicate."
Aside from external AI models, SK is also using internal technologies including SK Telecom's proprietary large language model AX, its A.Dot Biz Co-Work and SK hynix's generative AI platform GaiA.
Samsung Group has also launched a sweeping artificial intelligence initiative across its affiliates, allowing employees to use external generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude as the conglomerate seeks to overhaul the way it operates.
Samsung Electronics began allowing employees in its Device eXperience division to use ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini Enterprise for work. Its Device Solutions division, which oversees the chip business, is currently using Claude and is preparing to adopt ChatGPT this month and Gemini later this year.
The move marks a significant shift, as the tech giant previously banned the use of external generative AI tools in 2023 after an employee uploaded source code to ChatGPT. It later developed its own generative AI model, Samsung Gauss, and set up internal organizations to drive AI-based productivity gains.
In line with the push, Samsung Electronics will hold its global strategy meeting Tuesday to Thursday, where heads of major overseas operations are expected to discuss AX strategies for each regional unit as a key agenda item. Samsung is also holding an AX Boot Camp for presidents of all affiliates. It plans to provide hands-on AI training to about 2,300 executives and complete AI education for all employees by the end of the year.
LG Group has also identified AI transformation as a mission-critical task directly tied to its survival, pushing a yearslong effort to reshape the organization around AI.
At a presidents' meeting in March, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo urged affiliate CEOs to lead a faster AX push, underscoring the need for structural innovation to navigate an increasingly unpredictable market and defining AX as a core source of future competitiveness.
LG has launched a three-stage AI transformation training program for CEOs of all affiliates, including Koo, and senior executives since early this year. After completing the first stage, which focused on improving individual productivity, the group began rolling out the second stage program last month to help executives apply AI at the corporate level.
Starting next month, executives in charge of business operations will receive separate AI training under the theme "AI for customers," designed to help them develop AI-based commercialization strategies.
LG affiliates, which have a strong internal AI foundation built around its proprietary hyperscale AI model Exaone, are taking a more cautious approach to external AI adoption.
"LG CNS has secured multiple AI options by partnering with both OpenAI and Anthropic, but LG Group also has a strong commitment to using its own AI model, Exaone," an industry official said. "While the group may review ChatGPT adoption, any wider rollout is likely to proceed by weighing specific business needs against its internal AI strategy."
herim@heraldcorp.com