Sam Altman's Korea Visit Canceled, Domestic AI Competition Landscape Under Scrutiny

The cancellation of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's visit to South Korea is expected to bring changes to the competitive landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) technology among domestic information technology (IT) companies. CEO Altman was scheduled to visit Korea on the 14th to meet with representatives from major IT firms including Kakao, Samsung Electronics, and Naver, but the schedule has been postponed due to personal reasons. The decision to cancel has drawn significant attention, as it was a crucial opportunity for the world's leading AI company, OpenAI, to explore cooperation with South Korea's top IT firms.

The postponement of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's visit may cause some disruption to Kakao's AI strategy. Kakao secured 11 million subscribers in the consumer (B2C) sector with its 'ChatGPT for Kakao' service, launched last October, and aimed to lead the mobile agent market through cooperation with OpenAI. Kakao plans to target the mobile agent market by preemptively integrating OpenAI's core services alongside the development of its proprietary AI model, 'KoGPT'. A Kakao official stated that introducing OpenAI's ChatGPT alongside its own model development is part of an 'orchestration strategy'. Kakao has secured 11 million cumulative subscribers with its 'ChatGPT for Kakao' service since October last year, aiming to surpass 31 million by the end of the year.

Kakao is pursuing a strategy of utilizing Google's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) in the development of its proprietary AI model 'KoGPT' to address potential Nvidia GPU supply issues. The adoption of Google TPUs for some KoGPT model development aims to reduce costs and improve resource allocation efficiency. This contrasts with Naver's approach of seeking B2B market expansion with Nvidia, as Kakao focuses on leveraging its strong B2C platform dominance and integrating OpenAI and Google to enhance its core business synergies.

Naver previously met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, showcasing its infrastructure alliance. The Nvidia CEO highlighted Naver's full-stack technological capabilities, including its cloud and AI expertise, world-class data center construction experience, and next-generation robot technology, designating Naver as an AI infrastructure construction partner for Asia. Naver has established a roadmap with Nvidia to complete gigawatt (GW)-class AI data center infrastructure within the next 5 to 6 years. This represents a strategic move to expand into the global B2B market, diverging from its existing domestic consumer-centric business structure.

Naver and Kakao, the two leading domestic IT companies, are competing to secure leadership in the artificial intelligence (AI) field. OpenAI stated that South Korea is a very important and strategic partner country, and its ongoing cooperation with domestic partners will proceed as planned.