[DigitalToday reporter Chi-kyu Hwang] Lee Hae-min (이해민) of the Rebuilding Korea Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, held a meeting on the 24th with young AI startup developers and product managers and exchanged views on strengthening the competitiveness of the AI industry.

The on-site meeting, held at AI service platform company Wrtn Technologies, was attended by employees in their 20s and 30s working in areas including AI agents and character chat, development automation tools, content services, marketing and product planning.

Lee worked at Google for nearly 20 years, handling services including Google Maps, establishing Google Desktop Search strategy and planning vertical search.

The meeting was conducted in a question-and-answer format, with Lee responding to a range of questions from participants. Topics included the role of product managers that does not change despite rapid technological advances, what should be the top priority in decision-making during development processes within AI companies, and careers for IT workers. Lee responded with frank answers based on his experience.

Lee said that when preparing new services at Google, internal conflicts would arise within teams and he often had to mediate them. "The best answer was found in the question of what direction the service should take so that users receive the best benefits. A single service can change the lives of 1 billion people and have an impact," he said. "This does not change in IT, mobile and AI services, nor in legislation and politics," he added.

Lee stressed that "the long journey from planning and building an IT service to providing it to users is not very different from drafting a bill, going through the legislative process and putting it into effect." "The most important point not to forget in that process is the user and the public, who are ultimately where the service or the bill arrives," he said.

In closing, Lee added, "With the belief that technology is not an object of political strife, I will work even harder to carry out legislative activities that people on the ground like those here can feel are actually meaningful."