Google has stepped forward to position itself as an AI partner for South Korean industry. It plans to expand the adoption of Google AI across industries, from manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor to platforms and media such as Kakao and CJ ENM, bringing them into its ecosystem.

Yoon Koo (윤구), head of Google Korea, said at the 'Google for Korea 2026' event held on April 29 at the Westin Josun Seoul that South Korea's dynamism is leading to synergy between Google and Korean companies. He said it would build an AI ecosystem together with leading Korean companies.

Google said it is focusing on the South Korean market because of its high acceptance and active use of AI. Yoon said South Korea is the fastest-growing market for Gemini usage in the Asia-Pacific region. He stressed that 82 percent of users define AI as a partner that helps growth, calling it an AI first-mover country.

Google will first work with domestic manufacturing and hardware companies to develop next-generation devices equipped with its platform. It is working with Samsung Electronics across the Android ecosystem. The companies are jointly developing the next-generation 'Galaxy XR' headset equipped with Google's extended reality operating system, 'Android XR'. Samsung Electronics and Gentle Monster are also preparing Android XR-based AI glasses. Google said it has been collaborating from the early design stage.

In the IT and platform sector, it will push to embed Gemini. It is working with Kakao to optimize its in-house AI service so it can run smoothly on Android devices. The first application is KakaoTalk's AI service 'Kanana in KakaoTalk'. It also plans to install Gemini in LG Uplus' AI agent IxiO to advance call AI functions such as real-time information searches and summarisation during calls.

Google also officially announced its integrated AI capability enhancement brand, 'AI Ollim', on the day. Yoon said AI Ollim, which carries the meaning that everyone learns and grows together, will provide AI capability development programs spanning groups ranging from young people to companies, developers and startups.

It also plans to set up an 'AI Campus' within the year as a hub for collaboration among Korean partners, academia and startups. It is part of a national AI partnership announced on April 27 by Google DeepMind and the Ministry of Science and ICT. It will be established in South Korea for the first time outside Britain, where Google DeepMind is headquartered. It plans to support research by major domestic institutions such as Seoul National University and KAIST in bioscience, energy and climate using AlphaFold, AlphaEvolve and AlphaGenome.

◆ From robots to education...expanding the front line of specialised models

Google also expressed expectations for cooperation with South Korean manufacturing companies in physical AI. Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, said South Korea excels in manufacturing from chips to robotics and has strengths across industry along with universities and research institutions such as Seoul National University and KAIST. He said it is a country with all the conditions to stand at the forefront of a new AI era.

Cooperation with Boston Dynamics, a U.S. robotics unit of Hyundai Motor Group, is a representative case. The two companies formalised a strategic partnership at 'CES 2026' earlier this year. They plan to develop a next-generation humanoid by installing Google's robotics-focused AI model 'Gemini Robotics' in Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot 'Atlas'. The target is to deploy it at Hyundai's U.S. plants in 2028.

Google unveiled its latest model, Gemini Robotics 1.6, on the day and presented a demonstration video showing it installed in Boston Dynamics' quadruped robot 'Spot'. Carolina Parada (캐롤리나 파라다), senior director of robotics at Google DeepMind, said a new era of physical AI is opening. She said it is an era in which robots naturally interact with people regardless of form and size and solve practical problems. She said it is redefining robotics possibilities together through partnerships with South Korea's industrial ecosystem, from large companies to small and medium-sized businesses.

In education, Google formed a partnership with online language education company YBMnet and launched a TOEIC mock test service within Gemini from the day. Hyun-jung Choi (최현정), senior engineering director at Google DeepMind, said education is one of the hardest but most valuable challenges to solve. She said the goal is to become a personal tutor for every learner, matched to each individual's pace and level.

An education-focused AI model called 'LearnLM', developed in collaboration with education experts, was also introduced. It was described as supporting an active learning experience focused on the process of helping learners find answers on their own, rather than simply presenting correct answers.

◆ AX strategy shared at closed-door meeting...content, retail and startups gather

A closed-door corporate meeting, the '2026 Leaders AI Roundtable', was also held ahead of the official event. Google DeepMind attendees included Vice President Karim Ayoub. South Korean participants included Seok-geun Jeong of SK Telecom, Se-woong Kim of Kakao AI Synergy, Sang-hyun Yoon of CJ ENM, Jin-hee Lee of CJ Olive Young, and Seo-hong Heo of GS Retail, among other company officials.

The event proceeded with opening remarks by Vice President Ayoub and discussions on partner strategies. It was reported that Ayoub stressed it is time to strengthen data and model operations capabilities for efficient use of AI models. Min-jun Park (박민준), CEO of Wrtn AX, said, "Models keep getting better anyway, and after 3 months it is almost a different world. The point was that companies should build a structure that lets them swap models and focus on harness engineering."

CJ ENM is working with Google on AI content production. CJ ENM will first unveil to the media tomorrow its AI feature-length film 'Apartment (working title)', produced using multimodal models including Google's video generation model Veo and image generation model Imagen.

In retail, AI transformation (AX) was a key topic. An Olive Young official said it is pursuing corporate AX by adopting Google Cloud's integrated AI platform, Gemini Enterprise.

GS Retail CEO Heo said it asked about AI transformation strategy because it needs to carry out various digital transformations with a limited budget. He said it is looking at areas starting with data and wanted to know how it could proceed more efficiently with what it is doing.