OpenAI CSO Kwon to visit South Korea for AI partnership

Seoul, June 11 Jason Kwon, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of OpenAI, will visit South Korea on Thursday for the second time in just over two weeks to explore partnerships in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, industry sources said on Wednesday.

His upcoming visit comes just a week after the inauguration of President Lee Jae-myung, who has pledged to make South Korea one of the world's top three AI powerhouses through a 100 trillion-won (US$73 billion) national investment initiative.

During his previous visit on May 26, Kwon said OpenAI has established a Korean subsidiary and plans to open its third Asian office -- following Tokyo and Singapore -- in Seoul in the coming months, reports Yonhap news agency.

The move is part of OpenAI's broader global expansion. The developer of ChatGPT has launched 11 new offices in major cities in recent years, including Paris, Brussels, Singapore, London, Dublin and Tokyo.

"OpenAI considers South Korea a key partner due to its high level of engagement with our services and sees strong potential for collaboration with Korean companies," an OpenAI official said.

South Korea ranks among the top 10 countries globally in terms of ChatGPT users and developers using OpenAI platforms. In particular, it has the second-largest number of paid ChatGPT subscribers, following the United States.

Even before formally entering the Korean market, OpenAI has collaborated with several major Korean companies, including internet giant Kakao Corp., game developer Krafton Inc. and mobile carrier SK Telecom Co., on AI technologies and data center development.

Kakao is expected to unveil the results of its joint project with OpenAI later this year.

OpenAI last month announced it will begin operations in South Korea as part of its ongoing global expansion of AI infrastructure.

Kwon said OpenAI has established a Korean unit and plans to open its first Korean office in Seoul. "Our next international office is going to be here in Seoul," Kwon told reporters, adding the Seoul office will be OpenAI's third Asian branch following those in Tokyo and Singapore.

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