Choi Tae-won "Using AI has limits for individual companies... Must build as industrial infrastructure"

Speech at '2024 Ulsan Forum' on the 25th
"Need for Infrastructure Development at Ulsan City Level"

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK, emphasized the necessity of building industrial infrastructure for the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI). He explained that since individual companies face limitations in training AI with high-quality data, local governments need to take the initiative.

According to SK on the 26th, Chairman Choi stated at the closing session of the '2024 Ulsan Forum,' held the previous day at the Ulsan Exhibition & Convention Center (UECO) in Ulju-gun, Ulsan, "To properly utilize AI, it is necessary to train AI with an enormous amount of well-cleansed data."

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group (third from the left), attended the closing ceremony of the '2024 Ulsan Forum' held at the Ulsan Exhibition and Convention Center on the 25th, explaining Ulsan's innovation plans utilizing technology and culture. (Photo by SK)

He emphasized, "There are limits for individual companies in Ulsan to do this," adding, "We need to create AI-related infrastructure by sharing all data within the Ulsan industrial complex collectively and reflect this to suit Ulsan’s manufacturing industry to see effective results." He further explained that if other cities such as Yeosu and Daejeon follow in building infrastructure after Ulsan, it would be possible to create a massive AI industrial infrastructure encompassing manufacturing data.

Chairman Choi proposed, "It is difficult for Ulsan’s manufacturing industry to gain differentiated competitiveness by thinking about how to utilize AI from only one side," adding, "We need a two-way approach: training AI based on manufacturing and commercializing smarter AI through this process."

He continued, "Experts should gather to deeply contemplate how to design Ulsan’s future," and insisted, "We need to establish a foundation where global AI and cultural experts can convene, such as through a three-month residency program." He mentioned that "there should be cultural content reflecting Ulsan’s unique characteristics to attract people domestically and internationally," suggesting ideas like painting murals on the exterior walls of crude oil storage tanks or creating cultural facilities such as libraries and opera houses inside unused tanks.

Regarding 'regional extinction,' one of the forum’s themes, he explained, "Before solving Ulsan’s regional problems, we need to examine what social issues Ulsan citizens are interested in and how much companies and local governments are investing in each social issue," adding, "Narrowing this gap will be the shortcut to solving the most necessary problems in the local community."

Now in its third year, the Ulsan Forum was initiated by SK Group in cooperation with the Ulsan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, following Chairman Choi’s proposal, to discuss various social issues faced by the local community. The event was attended by Chairman Choi, Park Sang-gyu, President of SK Innovation, other SK executives, Kim Doo-gyeom, Mayor of Ulsan Metropolitan City, Lee Yoon-cheol, Chairman of the Ulsan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Oh Yeon-cheon, President of Ulsan University. In addition, about 1,300 SK members, local businesspeople, small business owners, university students from Ulsan, and general citizens participated either in person or online to share the forum.