"Korea Has the Potential to Become a Global Hub for Manufacturing and Talent"... Google Expands Its AI Alliance

On his first visit to Korea in 10 years, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, expanded cooperation by meeting with the government as well as companies ranging from manufacturers to platform and service providers, including Samsung Electronics, SK Group and Hyundai Motor Company. Unlike the 2016 AlphaGo match event with Lee Sedol, this visit included a broad slate of industry-wide meetings, signaling a push to expand AI cooperation between Google DeepMind and Korea. The move is seen as an effort to accelerate AI's industrial expansion by combining it with Korea's manufacturing strengths in semiconductors, robotics and other fields.
■ A full-spectrum meeting with the Korean government and industry
The weight of this visit was reflected in Hassabis's schedule. He began on the 27th with a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung and discussions with the Ministry of Science and ICT on cooperation. On the 28th, he held a series of meetings with the heads of the country's four major conglomerates: Samsung Electronics, SK Group, Hyundai Motor Company and LG. On the 29th, Google DeepMind held a closed-door 'Leaders AI Roundtable' with 17 companies, including Hyundai Motor Group, LG Household & Health Care, CJ ENM, Kakao Corp., Yanolja and GS Retail. That stood in contrast to the 2016 AlphaGo event, when he played the match and left without any other public schedule. The highlight of this visit was the 'Google for Korea 2026' event held that day. Hassabis himself referred to it as the 'highlight' of the trip, using the AlphaGo 10th anniversary to present a concentrated look at the past decade of AI and where it is headed next.
■ "AI will recreate humanity's 'renaissance'"
What Hassabis consistently emphasized throughout the visit was Korea's strategic position. He pointed to the country's semiconductor infrastructure and robotics capabilities as essential drivers in the era of AGI, and said Korea could emerge as a global leader in next-generation robotics, manufacturing automation and edge computing.
That optimism is rooted in his belief that the AGI era is approaching. Hassabis said he expects the AGI era to arrive within the next five years.
At the event, he cited AlphaFold's success in solving 200 million protein-folding problems that even a doctoral researcher might struggle to solve over a lifetime, stressing that AI has already entered a stage where it can tackle scientific challenges. He said, "It will be an innovation that is 10 times more powerful and 10 times faster than the Industrial Revolution."
During the visit, Google DeepMind also signed an MOU with the government on the K-Moonshot Project in life sciences and weather and climate, as well as on building an AI safety framework. Another notable point was the choice of Seoul as the location for its first AI campus outside the UK, where Google DeepMind is headquartered. The 'Google AI Campus Seoul' is expected to serve as a hub for Korea's AI ecosystem, connecting academia, startups and companies. It will also be linked to the government's K-Moonshot Project, with Google DeepMind's technology and researchers directly participating in large-scale R&D efforts aimed at solving national challenges in biotech, climate and energy with AI.
At the event, Hassabis said, "The potential of AI models is not yet fully understood, even by the leading research labs." He added, "The younger generation today will use these AI tools to create new businesses, new products and new applications, and in effect, they will have superpowers."
yjjoe@fnnews.com Jo Yoon-joo Reporter