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SK chief warns employees that AI will take their jobs soon

Published: 21 Aug. 2025, 18:10 Updated: 24 Aug. 2025, 17:58

LEE JAE-LIM
[email protected]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, center, takes questions from employees during the closing session of the Icheon Forum 2025 at SK’s Seorin building in central Seoul on Aug. 20. [SK]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won urged employees to rapidly embrace artificial intelligence (AI), warning that most traditional work will soon be taken over by AI agents and stressing the need to focus on creating new value.

“We are now in an era where we must quickly embed AI and digital transformation,” Chey said at the closing session of the Icheon Forum 2025 on Wednesday at the SK Seorin building in central Seoul. “Each member of the organization must become familiar enough with AI to play with it. Only then can we achieve innovation and success.”

Chey speculated that many routine tasks are likely to be handled by AI agents in the future, adding that employees should place greater emphasis on creativity.

The session was conducted in an interactive format, with Chey answering questions in real time from both in-person and online participants. Roughly 170 executives and staff, including Executive Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won and SK Supex Council Chairman Chey Chang-won, attended in person, while more than 2,800 employees joined virtually.

The SK chairman also tied AI adoption to the group’s ongoing Operation Improvement initiative, which he described as strengthening the company’s “basic fitness.”

“Even in the age of AI, if we lack operational fundamentals, whatever we build on top of it will eventually collapse,” he warned. He called on employees to deepen their understanding of day-to-day operations to ensure that the company’s transformation rests on a solid foundation.

Now in its ninth year, the Icheon Forum has become SK Group’s flagship annual platform for debating future strategies and disruptive technologies. Launched in 2017 at Chey’s initiative, the forum has placed AI at the center of its agenda since 2019. This year’s sessions brought together global AI leaders, including William Fong, chief strategy officer of DigBI and former Microsoft AI executive, and IBM Consulting Senior Vice President Mohamad Ali, who discussed the expansion of AI ecosystems and real-world applications alongside SK subsidiaries such as SK Innovation and SK hynix.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHOI SUN-EUL,LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]