Jaeheon Jung (정재헌), chief executive of SK Telecom, said he aims to reduce reliance on foreign-made AI through "AI for Everyone" and deliver AI services optimised for the Korean language and culture.

Speaking at a launch briefing for the "AI for Everyone" project at the Korea Press Center in Seoul on Thursday, Jung said people may worry about how it will perform compared with foreign general-purpose models. He said the company needs to sufficiently train the model on Korea's language, lifestyles and culture to deliver proper services.

He said the competitiveness of domestic AI models is rising quickly through a government-led project to develop an independent AI foundation model. He stressed the importance of linking that effort to the "AI for Everyone" service to increase what people can experience.

Jung also cited uncertainty over policy changes at foreign AI services as a reason the "AI for Everyone" service is needed. ChatGPT and Claude are widely used, but if fees rise suddenly, access could fall, he said.

"If people cannot properly use foreign AI for various reasons while they are dependent on it, people's lives could come to a standstill," Jung said. "The need for sovereign AI cannot be emphasised enough."

"We do not know when, for what reason, or by how much the price (of foreign AI) will rise," he said. He said the country must work to ensure that all people can use an independent service conveniently and easily through "AI for Everyone."

SKT is focusing "AI for Everyone" on an AI agent service that carries out users' actual work and daily routines, rather than a chatbot that simply answers questions. Leveraging its strengths as a telecommunications provider, it will introduce agent functions based on phone calls and text messages to help people use the service conveniently. The formal service will begin a beta after early October and launch within the year.