Samsung Executives Meet OpenAI's Sam Altman on AI Strategy

Samsung invited OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to speak with its top management on October 31, holding a forum at the Samsung Human Resources Development Institute in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. About 50 presidents and senior executives from Samsung Electronics and affiliates in electronics, finance and biotech attended, the company said.

The session was titled "The Next Decade Reshaped by AI: Choices for Business." Altman and the executives discussed where AI technology is heading, how it can be used, and what market and business opportunities may follow. They also considered how AI will affect corporate decision-making and organizational management, and which skills leaders will need in the new environment.

Part of a company-wide AI push

Samsung described the meeting as part of executive training for its company-wide AI transformation, known as AX. Before the forum, the executives took a hands-on course in generative AI, the second intensive session since the first in June, four months earlier. The company said competitiveness in the AI era depends on management judgment and execution, and that it is spreading a culture of leaders learning and using AI themselves, for example by organizing scattered management data into a knowledge repository.

Since June, Samsung has been pushing AI adoption across research and development, production, marketing and support. Training began with the top executives and has covered around 2,300 managers. It will extend to all employees, with completion targeted for February 2027. Affiliates are building dedicated AI teams that draw up AX strategies suited to each business and support the operation of data and AI models, while use of external generative AI services is also being expanded.

Ties with OpenAI

Samsung Electronics and OpenAI signed a letter of intent last October on global AI infrastructure, with Samsung working to supply memory chips for OpenAI's Stargate project. Samsung SDS agreed to cooperate on AI data centers and enterprise AI services, while Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries are jointly developing floating offshore data centers. Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters in July.

Samsung said it will review each affiliate's AX results, define concrete tasks and establish an AI-centered management system.