SK hynix headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province (Yonhap) SK hynix is reviewing the use of external generative artificial intelligence models, including ChatGPT, inside the company, as Korea’s major chipmakers move to bring AI deeper into day-to-day work.The move comes as companies are looking beyond AI as a simple productivity tool and seeking to use it more broadly in research and development, decision-making and internal management.According to industry sources on Friday, SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung outlined the company’s plans to review the adoption of external generative AI models during a CEO town hall held Thursday at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.The event, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, is part of the New Icheon Forum, where SK Group executives and employees discuss survival strategies in the AI era and AI transformation plans across the group.At the session, Kwak said one of the key challenges was finding a balance between protecting industrial technologies and making wider use of AI. He also laid out plans to review the use of external generative AI models.“We are reviewing the adoption of Microsoft 365 and Copilot, and we are also looking at whether ChatGPT Enterprise can be used internally, with security and system architecture under review,” Kwak said. “We plan to start with areas unrelated to national core technologies and gradually expand the use of external AI tools.”SK hynix currently runs an in-house AI service built on open-source generative AI models. The company is seeking to give employees access to a broader range of AI models by adopting external services.Employees at the town hall also raised questions about security risks, AI training and the need for more computing resources. They also called for wider access to external AI models, upgrades to the company’s internal AI platform and stronger AI education programs.“In the AI era, what matters is not who knows more, but who learns and changes faster,” Kwak said. “Each of us needs to redesign the way we work with AI.”He added that gaining hands-on experience with AI and changing work practices would become a new source of competitiveness for SK hynix, saying the company would support employees in experimenting with new ways of working.Crosstown rival Samsung Electronics has also been expanding the use of generative AI tools across the company. Both its Device eXperience division, which oversees consumer electronics and mobile devices, and its Device Solutions division, which handles semiconductors, are moving to give employees broader access to external AI models.The developments at Samsung and SK hynix point to a broader push by Korea’s major chipmakers to bring generative AI deeper into day-to-day work, while managing security risks tied to sensitive technologies.At the broader SK Group level, however, the adoption of external generative AI tools has not been formalized as a groupwide policy.“Nothing has been officially decided at the group level on the adoption of external AI tools,” an SK Group official said, adding that each affiliate is handling the issue based on its own security standards and work environment.Still, SK Group has been encouraging employees to become more familiar with AI in their daily work.“Chairman Chey Tae-won has often said employees should use AI more naturally in their everyday work, rather than approach it only as something to be learned through training,” the official added.