SK Group chairman calls for use of AI in measuring social value

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won delivers his speech during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Forum 2025 at the University of Tokyo, Friday. Courtesy of SK Group

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won on Friday called on global economies to incorporate social values into today’s framework of capitalism, stressing that artificial intelligence (AI) can serve as a useful tool for measuring and managing such values.

Chey made the remarks during his opening remarks for the Tokyo Forum 2025, jointly hosted by the University of Tokyo and Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, an economic institute named after the late former SK Group Chairman Chey Jong-hyon.

Since 2019, the annual forum has addressed issues such as rapid technology progress, geopolitical instability and other global issues. This year’s edition explored ideas under the theme of “Rethinking Capitalism: Varieties, Contradictions, and Futures.”

“Conventional capitalism has been concentrating solely on financial aspects, offering no rewards or incentives for creating social value,” Chey said in his speech.

“Measuring social value has long been difficult due to high costs and insufficient data, which hindered the proper allocation of resources. But with digital technologies and AI now serving as powerful measurement tools, these problems can be overcome.”

Chey has for years highlighted the importance of social value in running SK Group, with a belief that enterprises should go beyond generating economic profit to help resolve social problems and improve the well-being of stakeholders. In 2019, SK Group started quantifying social value created by key affiliates and opened the results to the public.

For example, SK hynix estimated that it generated nearly 9.9 trillion won ($6.7 billion) in indirect economic contributions in 2018, but reported a social performance loss of 450 billion won. The company attributed the negative figure to its environmental impact, such as emissions generated during production.

Chey said SK evaluates social values created by each affiliate across various categories such as job creation, tax contributions, environmental impact and community engagement, adding that “measurement changes the way companies make decisions.”

“Once social value can be measured and evaluated systematically, we can allocate resources differently and create incentives that can change how an enterprise operates,” Chey said. He described this as a “new capitalism,” saying that if capitalism incorporates social value, it can form a far more sustainable structure for the future.

Chey also participated in a panel discussion of the forum, along with University of Tokyo President Teruo Fuji and other top leaders from the Japanese business community.

The two-day forum, which kicked off Friday, featured keynote speeches and discussions from top experts, including University of Chicago professor Marianne Bertrand, Seoul National University professor Kim Byung-yeon and Chey Institute for Advanced Studies President Kim Yoo-suk.