OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to Visit South Korea for AI Talks

SEOUL, June 11 (Yonhap) -- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will visit South Korea next week for meetings with major technology companies, including Samsung Electronics Co., to discuss cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI), industry sources said Thursday.

During the two-day visit beginning Sunday, Altman is also expected to meet executives from portal operator Naver Corp. and mobile platform operator Kakao Corp., they said.

First, Altman is scheduled to visit Samsung's office in Suwon, south of Seoul, on Monday, where he will deliver a lecture on the transformative impact of AI technologies and strategies for AI-driven workplace innovation, they said.

The visit comes as the South Korean technology giant recently announced plans to fundamentally overhaul its work processes and corporate culture by fully incorporating AI across its operations.

Altman's upcoming trip will mark his first visit to South Korea in about eight months, following his previous visit in October last year.

During that visit, Altman held separate meetings with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.

Following the meetings, OpenAI signed letters of intent with Samsung and SK to cooperate on the development of core global AI infrastructure, laying the groundwork for strategic partnerships.

Although another meeting between Altman and Lee has been discussed, industry sources said such a meeting is unlikely as the Samsung chairman is currently on a business trip to Europe.

A meeting with SK Group is also considered unlikely due to Altman's tight two-day schedule, insiders added.

Later on Monday, Altman is expected to meet Kakao Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chung Shin-a at the company's headquarters in Pangyo, just south of Seoul, to discuss ways to expand cooperation between the two companies.

The discussions are expected to focus on strengthening connectivity between ChatGPT and KakaoTalk, Kakao's flagship messaging service, particularly in leveraging conversational context across the platforms.

Altman, moreover, is expected to visit Naver's headquarters in Seongnam later the same day.

As Naver has built its own cloud and data center infrastructure, industry observers say the visit could open the door to new areas of cooperation between OpenAI and the South Korean internet giant.