Guess Who's at Kakao AI Announcement?…Sam Altman Visits Korea

Jeong-sina, Kakao's CEO, likely to announce 'AI Alliance'

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Samsung Electronics executives also scheduled to meet

Sam Altman, the CEO (pictured) of OpenAI, the developer of the leading generative AI, ChatGPT, is visiting Korea to attend a workshop in Seoul on the 4th. He is also expected to appear at the announcement of Kakao's own AI service 'Kanana' on the same day.

According to industry sources on the 3rd, OpenAI will hold a private workshop called 'Builder Lab' for 100 developers from domestic companies and startups at the Plaza Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 4th. This is the first event, and CEO Altman is expected to attend. He first visited Korea in 2023 at the invitation of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and visited Samsung Electronics' Pyeongtaek plant last year.

CEO Altman is reported to announce a collaboration with Kakao and attend a press conference with Jeong-sina, Kakao's CEO.

Kakao, preparing for the full launch of Kanana, has stated its intention to adopt a 'model orchestration' strategy, choosing and implementing various pre-developed AI models as needed, rather than developing its own large-scale language model (LLM). Consequently, Kakao is expected to actively utilize OpenAI models in the future.

Currently in Japan, CEO Altman commented on the 'DeepSeek (Chinese AI startup) shock,' acknowledging the significant growth of China's AI technology but stating, "The performance of the DeepSeek AI model is not new. OpenAI has had models of this level before."

During his visit to Korea, he is also expected to meet with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to discuss AI cooperation. A meeting with Samsung Electronics executives is scheduled, but it is not confirmed whether he will meet with Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was acquitted in an appeal trial for unfair merger and accounting fraud charges.

Kim Bong-gu, Hankyung.com reporter kbk9@hankyung.com