SKT President Yoo Young-sang: "Balance AI Growth, Development, and Safety"

Announcement of Sustainable Innovation Plans at AI Seoul Summit

Yoo Young-sang, President of SK Telecom, stated that the international community must cooperate for balanced development in a situation where the growth and advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) coexist with the social problems arising from it.

Yoo Young-sang, President of SK Telecom / Photo by SKT

On the 23rd, SKT announced that President Yoo delivered a presentation on sustainable AI innovation measures at the 'AI Seoul Summit.' The AI Seoul Summit, held over two days from the 21st to the 22nd, was a meeting where heads of state from major countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, digital ministers, and representatives of domestic and international big tech companies gathered to discuss AI governance.

President Yoo pointed out issues such as energy consumption related to AI infrastructure and reduced accessibility, and said that to address these problems, the Korean government and companies are working together on AI chip development and the establishment of AI data centers (AIDC).

He also mentioned the 'Generative AI Red Team Challenge' hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT regarding side effects like AI-generated fake news, stating, "It was an event to find weaknesses and risk factors in AI models of major Korean companies, which made us deeply reflect on AI sustainability and safety."

On that day, President Yoo presented three discussion agendas for 'sustainable and trustworthy AI development.' First, he emphasized that leading AI countries should find ways to cooperate with countries aiming to develop AI and spread AI infrastructure to increase AI accessibility. In particular, he stressed the need to create an environment where startups, research institutions, and universities can utilize AI infrastructure.

He also said that while expanding the scope of AI utilization, both the government and private companies should actively consider job creation related to AI. Furthermore, he proposed establishing technical and policy measures to minimize issues such as bias in training data.

President Yoo emphasized, "While it is necessary for the international community to seriously consider AI safety, it is also important to deliberate and make efforts regarding the innovation that AI can create," adding, "A balanced virtuous cycle structure is needed where countries and companies cooperate to minimize AI side effects based on safety and achieve sustainable AI innovation."