IBM Asia-Pacific Head: "AI is the Only Means to Boost Productivity, We've Passed the Tipping Point"

"Eighty-five percent of companies worldwide have either adopted artificial intelligence (AI) or are preparing to do so. The adoption of AI has already passed the tipping point (when market response suddenly explodes)."

Paul Button, President of IBM Asia Pacific
[Photo by Korea IBM]

Paul Burton, IBM Asia Pacific General Manager, made these remarks at a meeting held at the Korea IBM headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. Burton said, "Only 6% of companies in Korea responded that they do not need AI," adding, "Now, companies are not debating whether to apply AI but rather when and how to implement it."

The reason each company is trying to adopt AI is due to an inflection point in the population structure. As not only the total population but also the future workforce with high technical skills decreases, AI-based automation has become necessary. Burton stated, "The issue is who will manage and advance the digitalization carried out over the past 20 years," and diagnosed, "AI is the only means to increase productivity and improve human life."

For this reason, IBM stated that it does not agree with opinions that AI development should be delayed. Instead, regulations should focus on the use of AI rather than its development. Christopher Padilla, IBM Vice President in charge of Government and Regulatory Affairs, said, "Regulations should not extinguish the spark of AI innovation," and added, "Sanctions should be imposed on users who post false information using AI and on platforms that fail to respond to such actions."

Christopher Padilla, Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs at IBM Headquarters (left), and Paul Burton, President of IBM Asia Pacific (right) [Photo by Korea IBM]

To develop responsible AI, IBM is focusing on four key tasks: openness, transparency, reliability, and scalability. They are expanding openness by interacting with open-source communities and using customized data to prevent bias. Additionally, through transparency, they aim to gain consumer trust and establish connectivity so that companies can use AI anywhere.

Last September, to promote openness, IBM released the AI model 'Granite' to the open-source community 'Hugging Face.' Burton said, "I believe the structure where thousands or tens of thousands of people use the model and provide feedback when problems arise (such as on Hugging Face) is healthy," emphasizing, "Knowing what data was used and whether there is a risk of copyright infringement will be very important for the reputation of companies utilizing it."

Regarding bias in AI models, he added, "It is desirable for developers in Korea and Japan to present their own models (from the perspective of securing ecosystem diversity)," and stressed, "Two or three American companies should not monopolize AI."