Sam Altman Makes Surprise 2-Day Visit to Korea, Gifts 'Codex Keyboard' to Samsung Executives

Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, discussed future strategies with about 50 presidents of Samsung affiliates on the topic of "The Next 10 Years Shaped by AI and Corporate Choices" at the Samsung Human Resources Development Institute in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, this morning (October 31).

Altman, who made a surprise visit to South Korea last night for a two-day trip, was accompanied by key OpenAI executives during today's meeting, including Richard Ho, Vice President of Hardware; Kiran Mani, Vice President and Managing Director for Asia-Pacific and Japan; Andreas Hartl, Vice President of Asia-Pacific and Japan Sales; and Arvind KC, Chief People Officer (CPO).

Attendees from Samsung included Jeon Young-hyun, Vice Chairman and Head of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) Division; Roh Tae-moon, President and Head of Samsung Electronics' Device eXperience (DX) Division; along with Song Yong-ho, head of the Samsung Electronics DS Division AI Center; Choi Joo-sun, CEO of Samsung SDI; and Chang Duk-hyun, CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, as well as a large gathering of presidents from Samsung Electronics and key affiliates in the electronics, finance, and biotech sectors.


A meeting with Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong was reportedly not on today's schedule. After finishing the meeting with Samsung and a luncheon with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Altman departed the country this afternoon.

During today's meeting, Altman said, "Simply using AI will no longer secure a sustainable competitive advantage," adding, "Competitive advantage depends on how you leverage AI to move faster, build better products, and stay ahead of competitors."


Altman also gifted Samsung executives a "Codex Micro Keyboard," designed to facilitate the convenient use of Codex, OpenAI's coding agent.

Samsung Electronics and OpenAI signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) in October of last year to cooperate on building global AI infrastructure, and have been pursuing the supply of memory semiconductors required for OpenAI's "Stargate" project.

At that time, Samsung SDS agreed to cooperate in building AI data centers and enterprise AI services, while Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries pursued the joint development of offshore floating data centers.

Exchanges between the two companies have continued, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong's visit to OpenAI's headquarters in San Francisco, U.S., in July of this year.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.