OpenAI holds first Korea enterprise leadership event
· UPIMay 29 (Asia Today) -- OpenAI held its first corporate leadership event in South Korea, bringing together executives from major Korean companies to discuss how artificial intelligence can be adopted and scaled across business operations.
OpenAI said about 130 business and technology executives attended the Exec Summit held Wednesday in Seoul. The event focused on the practical application and expansion of enterprise AI.
The summit was held under the theme "Intelligence at work" and focused on how AI can move beyond personal productivity tools and operate inside corporate systems, data and business processes.
OpenAI said that shift is already accelerating in South Korea. Weekly active users of ChatGPT Codex in the country have increased tenfold since the beginning of the year, and more than half of Codex requests in South Korea now come from non-development work, including writing, analysis, research and operations.
The figures show AI is expanding beyond tools for developers and becoming part of everyday corporate work infrastructure, the company said.
The event reflected strong industry interest in OpenAI, drawing executives from major Korean conglomerates and leading information technology companies that rarely gather in one place. Participants focused on OpenAI's enterprise strategy and how its latest AI technologies could be applied in real business settings.
OpenAI executives attending the event included Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon, Ashley Kramer, vice president of enterprise, and Kim Kyoung-hoon, country manager of OpenAI Korea. Kwon is OpenAI's chief strategy officer, while Kim was appointed to lead OpenAI Korea after the company opened its Seoul office.
Enterprise leaders from OpenAI also introduced how AI can be applied to software development, workflow automation and complex business problem-solving, focusing on Codex, Workspace Agent and forward deployed engineering.
In his keynote address, Kwon said trust and security are the foundation of AI adoption. He said OpenAI is supporting Korean government agencies and corporate security teams in applying Daybreak, the company's cybersecurity initiative, through its Korea Cyber Action Plan.
Kramer said corporate competitiveness in the AI era will depend on how deeply companies integrate AI into actual work and systems.
"When AI is integrated into teams and workflows, companies can finally create real economic value," Kramer said.
Live demonstrations showed how AI agents and Codex can analyze complex problems that arise in corporate work and turn them into actionable results.
In one example, an OpenAI agent responded to a supply chain issue by reviewing inventory and shipment data, identifying points that required human judgment and continuing the task through financial impact analysis.
Another demonstration showed Codex supporting a broad range of work, including market opportunity analysis, candidate research, spreadsheet preparation, brand campaign planning, website development and executive briefing materials. The demonstration showed how AI can turn uncertain problems into executable workflows.
Krafton Inc. shared its companywide AI transformation and experience using Codex. The game developer declared an "AI-first" strategy last year and has worked to embed AI literacy across the company while improving work processes.
Krafton said 97.2% of its employees were using generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, according to a companywide survey conducted in February.
The company said Codex is being used not only for rapid prototyping and connecting development teams with data and deployment environments but also for onboarding new employees to legacy code, preparing development documentation, organizing meeting minutes and action items and building internal automation tools.
Lim Kyung-young, vice president of transformation at Krafton, said during a discussion that organizational culture is critical for leaders considering AI adoption.
"For leaders thinking about applying AI, it is important to have an organizational culture that is not afraid of trial and error," Lim said. "The AI ecosystem is changing quickly, and there is no single fixed answer. Companies need to encourage various experiments and quickly test tools that fit their organizations."
Kim said OpenAI will continue expanding cooperation with Korean companies.
"OpenAI plans to continue supporting Korean companies across technology, products and partnerships so AI can be safely integrated into real work and organizational operations and lead to repeatable results in industrial settings," Kim said.
-- Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260529010008688