Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Google urges bold, responsible and cooperative approach to continue AI momentum
Google Asia-Pacific Chief Marketing Officer Simon Kahn, right, gives presentation during a session on AI roadmap for sustainable innovation at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. Yonhap
By Lee Gyu-lee
GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province — Google Asia-Pacific Chief Marketing Officer Simon Kahn urged global leaders to adopt a bold vision and a strong commitment to social responsibility in artificial intelligence (AI) development, ensuring that its rapid advancements translate into lasting, meaningful benefits for society.
During a session on AI roadmap for sustainable innovation at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, on Thursday in Gyeongju, the CMO emphasized the importance of channeling the current wave of AI breakthroughs into long-term societal benefit.
“In the AI era, we have a profound social responsibility to ensure that the benefits of this technology uplift everyone and drive sustained prosperity for generations to come,” Kahn said, also stressing collaborative action.
“No single company or economy can realize the promise of AI alone. Progress depends on partnership … AI is global; our regulatory frameworks must be as well by building on common international standards,” he said.
He demonstrated Google’s real-world AI applications that address societal challenges across medicine, disaster prediction, and autonomous driving. Examples include DeepMind’s AlphaFold protein mapping, which accelerates medical research; the AI-powered Flood Hub, which can predict floods up to a week in advance; and Waymo’s self-driving technology, designed to create safer streets.
He also addressed the company’s efforts in supporting AI infrastructure for global partners from APAC economies, including with Korean companies, LG AI Research, Kakao Healthcare and Samsung.
“[Such a partnership] is not just an established sale of some sort of product. It's really, truly co-creational all the way through the tech stack,” he said. “If we get it right, then what will happen is we'll be able to create products and services that will benefit consumers, companies, small businesses and ultimately, economies as a whole.
From left, Deloitte Global AI leader Nitin Mittal, LG AI Research Senior Vice President Lee Hong-lak, Vobile CEO Yangbin Wang and Google Asia-Pacific Chief Marketing Officer Simon Kahn join a panel discussion during a session on AI roadmap for sustainable innovation at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. Yonhap
During the following panel discussion, LG AI Research Senior Vice President Lee Hong-lak underscored Korea’s ambitions as an AI leader and the necessity of foundational research.
He described LG’s strategy of developing expert-level AI systems built for deep vertical applications across the company’s business, from electronics and chemicals to biotechnology, emphasizing the importance of nurturing both core technologies and tailored solutions:
“We are focused on not just how to use AI, but also how to build a sustainable and competitive technology,” Lee said, explaining LG’s efforts to build advanced large language models and multi-modal AI for manufacturing, research and development.
“We believe that being part of (the government-led) K-AI foundation model project will lead to some very highly capable and highly competitive foundational model which will be open sourced and provided to the global community,” he said.
Yangbin Wang, CEO of digital content protection and transaction service Vobile, highlighted the new demands for copyright protection as AI-driven creativity accelerates.
“The core is intellectual property. In our view, the responsibility and sustainability come with a balance [of] content protection. When Sora or Veo, these new tools, found great adoption by consumers, it raised the question about copyright, including training using the copyrighted material from the industry,” he said.
“[However,] I believe that if the industry and technology companies work together. We’ll find a solution and build a brighter future for the industry [over time].”