President Yoon, OpenAI CEO discuss ways to enhance AI cooperation

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, the president’s office said Friday, to discuss a variety of topics regarding artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

“ChatGPT is stirring up a global sensation,” Yoon told Altman, who is traveling to meet political and tech leaders around the world.

“I asked ChatGPT some questions when writing up my New Year’s speech and got some very decent results,” Yoon said.

Altman suggested South Korea, one of the world’s most active users of ChatGPT, can help advance technologies that power the AI chatbot even further, partly by producing more advanced chips.

Collaborating with the country, home to the world’s two largest memory chip makers, Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., is important, the CEO said, as ChatGPT needs a vast amount of memory chips and demand for such semiconductors will continue to rise.

Altman also called on South Korea to reduce regulations on AI products and services, and actively participate in setting up international standards.

Yoon agreed on the need to set up global standards to prevent side effects associated with ChatGPT, at a time when the pace of technology development is so fast.

Earlier in the day, Altman said he is ready to invest in promising startups in the country.

“We’re exploring investing more in Korean startups. And we’d be very excited to explore the joint chip collaborations to develop AI accelerators,” he said while meeting with South Korean startups.

“Korea is one of the places in the world that has adopted OpenAI most the earliest, use it the most creatively. It’s amazing to see what people are doing here,” he said.

“Those two combined with the culture of innovation and what’s happening with the use of AI, particularly OpenAI, make us very excited to collaborate more deeply with the country.”