Panelists for Session 2 of The Korea Times Forum pose before the session at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, Tuesday. From left are session moderator Midas PE partner Sung Lee, Kakao Entertainment CEO Joseph Jang, Hansae CEO Kim Ik-whan, Leferi CEO Choi In-seok, The Ape Squad CEO Kim Young-ki and Hong Sung-eun, professor at the Department of Applied Artificial Intelligence at Sungkyunkwan University. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
Korean companies in beauty, fashion and content industries are riding the artificial intelligence (AI) wave and making innovative changes and profits from it.
But at the same time, riding this technological wave without a safety belt poses challenges and serves as a reminder to the firms of the importance of using rapidly growing AI as a tool, rather than something that renders humans expendable.
At The 2026 Korea Times Forum, co-hosted by GR Korea in Seoul on Tuesday, held under the theme, “Made in Korea: Global and AI enablement,” representatives of four companies in the K-beauty, K-pop and apparel manufacturing sectors shared how AI could be both boon and bane. They said AI, as much as it has now generated irreplaceable demands worldwide, should be used carefully so that its comprehensive and fast computing power does not tower over humans.
