Doubts are growing about Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin’s ability to lead the retail giant, as the group has suffered setbacks in major projects, including the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in its businesses and the merger of affiliates. Last month, Shinsegae Group baffled the market by abruptly canceling its partnership with OpenAI just 11 days after signing a memorandum of understanding with the developer of ChatGPT. Instead, the Korean conglomerate partnered with Reflection AI, another U.S. AI company, citing a “selection and concentration” strategy. Amid mounting criticism of Shinsegae Group’s hasty decision-making and its lack of thorough technological review, the reversal led to the removal of Shinsegae Property CEO Lim Young-lock from his concurrent post as the group’s chief strategy officer. Lim had signed the agreement with OpenAI Korea Country Manager Kim Kyung-hoon on April 6 for the joint development of an AI-powered e-commerce model with advanced customization features. Although Shinsegae Group said the personnel change was necessary to allow
Shinsegae chief disgraced by scrapped OpenAI partnership, delayed merger of affiliates
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