The CEO behind the company that created the humanlike chatbot ChatGPT is planning to visit Korea as part of his world tour to meet with users, developers and people interested in artificial intelligence. Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of California-based startup OpenAI, announced via Twitter Thursday that he has planned to visit 17 major cities around the world in May and June. Altman’s planned stops include Seoul, Toronto, Washington, Rio de Janeiro, Lagos, Madrid, Brussels, Munich, Londo

Industry April 3, 2023

South Korea’s telecommunications giant KT Corp. is in turmoil after a series of CEO candidates stepped down, apparently under pressure from the presidential office and the ruling party. More than two decades after its privatization, the government's political clout still seems to permeate the company, and investors are outraged by a recent plunge in share prices. “If this situation happens overseas, it would be called a scandal,” said Park Sang-in, a professor at Seoul Nat

Industry March 30, 2023

Park Sung-hyun, co-founder and CEO of South Korean chip designer Rebellions, compared the latest buzz over artificial intelligence-powered chatbot ChatGPT to that of the first iPhone decades ago. “This is a kind of industrial revolution. There may be no drastic change immediately, but we don’t know how far AI will go in replacing humans in the future,” Park told The Korea Herald in a recent interview, adding that it was the iPhone 3 that started bringing drastic changes across

Technology March 27, 2023

South Korea's telecom giant, KT Corp., said Monday that its CEO nominee has decided to resign, four days ahead of the company’s shareholders’ meeting that was set to take a vote on the new chief. KT's group transformation division head, Yun Kyung-lim, indicated his intention to give up the company leadership to the board of directors. The decision came as he believed it would be best for a new CEO to be elected through the firm’s government improvements, which excee

Industry March 27, 2023

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Thursday arrived in Beijing to attend a high-profile corporate summit this weekend, according to industry sources Friday. It is the first time in three years for the de facto leader of Samsung Group to visit China, where the tech giant operates major production facilities. Lee is scheduled to attend the three-day China Development Forum set to run at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse until Monday. Attending by invitation, he is expected to be j

Technology March 24, 2023

South Korea's largest conglomerate, Samsung Group, on Wednesday marked the 85th anniversary of its founding in a low-key manner. It is the first year that the big day has been celebrated following de facto leader Lee Jae-yong’s promotion to executive chairman of Samsung Electronics. Industry sources and Samsung officials said the group commemorated this year’s anniversary without organizing any official events as in other years. There was no special message delivered to employ

Technology March 22, 2023

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday unveiled this year’s new Bespoke home appliances lineup at a press event in Seoul. Twenty-seven new products are expected to be launched in the first half of the year, coming equipped with artificial intelligence-based energy-saving features.

Technology March 21, 2023

South Korea’s SK Group is bolstering the expertise and inclusivity of board directors across its affiliates by adding more females and current and former top executives to the boardroom as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance more responsible management. Ahead of their shareholders’ meetings later this month, the group said Tuesday its 12 key affiliates, including SK Inc., SK hynix, SK Telecom and SK Innovation, have nominated final candidates for outside directors. Of the 12 new c

Industry March 21, 2023

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman and co-CEO Han Jong-hee said Tuesday that the tech giant was in talks to secure a greater stake in Rainbow Robotics, a local humanoid robotics company, in an apparent move to ramp up its presence in the burgeoning robotics market. At a press event held to introduce Samsung’s new Bespoke home appliances lineup in Seoul earlier in the day, Han noted that the company has a strong appetite to acquire Rainbow Robotics and related talks are on the way “l

Technology March 21, 2023

Kakao Brain, an artificial intelligence technology research and development subsidiary of Kakao, said Monday it has temporarily suspended its generative AI-based chatbot service, within a day after its open beta release, due to technical glitches. At around 4 p.m. on Monday, Ddmm was unexpectedly closed after too many users flocked to try out the service. By the time Kakao had suspended the service, some 13,000 users had added the service to their mobile messenger, KakaoTalk. The exact date for

Technology March 20, 2023

Samsung Electronics said Monday it has opened a branch campus for its startup support program in Gwangju to incubate promising small businesses to spur innovation and build a business ecosystem without relocating themselves to bustling Seoul and metropolitan areas. Located in Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance’s office in the Sangmu region, C-Lab Outside Gwangju will be run to nurture innovative startups, revitalize the local economy and boost high-quality jobs in the rural area. The new ca

Industry March 20, 2023

South Korea's leading semiconductor makers, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, are likely to post deficits of billions of won in the first quarter of this year amid weakening memory chip prices and higher inventories. Posing great challenges for the firms are accumulated substantial amounts of inventory and slowing consumer spending. According to Samsung’s regulatory filing to DART, the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure board, Sunday, its inventory assets re

Industry March 19, 2023

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee are greeted by Korean compatriots attending a luncheon with the presidential couple. The luncheon was held ahead of a summit with Yoon's Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, in Tokyo on Thursday. Yoon thanked Koreans in Japan for buttressing the ties between the two countries. The president also called for an active role in developing Korea-Japan relations. "Both Korea and Japan are at a starting point for a better future

Foreign Affairs March 16, 2023

South Korea and Japan's easing of trade tensions has spurred hope among Korean businesses, as the two agreed to bolster economic ties on the sidelines of the summit talks held in Tokyo on Thursday. Earlier in the day, Japan announced it would lift restrictions on exports of key semiconductor materials to Korea, while Korea in return decided to withdraw its complaint filed with the World Trade Organization against the export curbs. Both countries also plan to continue talks to reinstate each

Economy March 16, 2023

SK Inc., the investment arm of SK Group, said Thursday it will divest all of its 2.98 percent stake in Turo, the San Francisco-based car-sharing company, as it is looking to cement its leadership in the fast-growing mobility market in Southeast Asia. SK will sell its stake in Turo to Swiss-based venture capital firm G Squared, an existing shareholder, for $67.5 million. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of this year, company officials said. “We are pleased to co

Industry March 16, 2023