OpenAI’s Sam Altman seeks help from Korean startups, chipmakers

Sam Altman, chief executive of Microsoft-backed OpenAI and ChatGPT creator, said on Friday that he hopes to collaborate with South Korean developers to significantly improve its generative AI chatbot’s Korean language skills.

The US artificial intelligence startup CEO also said he is in talks with Korean chipmakers for possible business partnerships to improve ChatGPT’s proficiency.

Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman are in Seoul as part of their global tour to discuss the opportunities and threats of AI with national leaders, lawmakers and AI developers.

After crisscrossing Europe last month, Altman traveled to Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and India this week before flying into Seoul on Friday for a two-day trip.

In Seoul, he attended a roundtable meeting with dozens of Korean startup heads, expressing his desire to “collaborate with local startups and big companies to improve the level of ChatGPT’s Korean skills.”

Participants of the roundtable, hosted by SoftBank Ventures, included executives from Korean AI startups such as Upstage, Friendly AI, Scatter Lab, Hyperconnect and LunaSoft, as well as developers from big tech companies such as Naver Corp., Kakao Corp., SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp.

Altman also met with Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol later in the day.

KOREA DEVELOPS ITS OWN AI MODELS

Korea is one of the few countries that has developed its own AI models. Tech companies such as Naver and Kakao as well as chipmakers Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. are leading Korea’s efforts to advance AI technology.

Naver Cloud, the AI unit of Naver Corp., is currently working on a new hyper-scale AI platform, HyperCLOVA X, which it said is more Korean-proficient than ChatGPT, to create an AI ecosystem tailored to Korean services.

Naver said HyperCLOVA X, which learned 6,500 times more Korean words than ChatGPT, will better understand and more accurately respond to prompts in Korean than English-based tools.

Naver plans to make its corporate-use generative AI tools available worldwide by combining its existing collaborative business services including LINE WORKS and NAVER WORKS with HyberCLOVA X by the end of this year.

Last month, industry sources said Samsung and Naver agreed to jointly develop a generative AI platform for corporate users to compete with global AI tools such as ChatGPT.

The two Korean tech giants also agreed to unveil new AI chips by the end of this year to replace Nvidia’s graphics chips that power AI platforms.

CHATGPT’S SUCCESS SPARKS CONCERNS

Industry executives and academics have expressed concern about the speed at which Altman’s large language models have advanced.

In Seoul, he urged the Korean government to join global efforts to work out AI regulations, which he said “should not hinder innovation.”

“Korea is a country that has the highest internet penetration rate and possesses both software and hardware capabilities that are hard to find elsewhere,” he said.

He said he is also considering establishing an OpenAI office in Seoul.

The rapid development and popularity of generative AI since the launch of ChatGPT last year are spurring lawmakers worldwide to formulate laws to address concerns linked to AI technology.

While the European Union is pushing ahead with its draft AI Act, which is expected to become law later this year, the US is opting to adapt existing laws for AI instead of creating whole new regulations.

Moves from both sides of the Atlantic to enact AI regulations are seen as efforts to win the fight for AI supremacy.

During his trip to Abu Dhabi earlier this week, Altman suggested the launch of an international agency like the UN’s nuclear watchdog to oversee AI technology.

CAUTIOUS IN GPT-5 DEVELOPMENT

Korea is also taking steps to enact AI-related laws. In February, a National Assembly committee passed a draft AI law that promotes the release of AI products and services amid human rights activists' calls for stricter rules on AI ethics. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced in April plans focused on fostering local AI development.

Altman said in Seoul on Friday that his company is cautiously approaching the development of its next-generation AI model, GPT-5.

“Creating GPT-5 should come with high standards. It will take a while for us to address the issue,” he said.

Write to Joo-Wan Kim, Jong-Woo Kim and Lan Heo at kjwan@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.