OpenAI chief Altman inks deal with S Korea’s Kakao after DeepSeek upset

Partnership volition let South Korean tech steadfast to usage ChatGPT for its artificial quality services.

OpenAI main Sam Altman has inked a woody with South Korea’s tech elephantine Kakao arsenic the California-based steadfast seeks caller alliances aft Chinese rival DeepSeek shook the planetary AI industry.

Kakao, which owns an online bank, South Korea’s largest taxi-hailing app and KakaoTalk, connected Tuesday announced a concern allowing it to usage ChatGPT for its caller artificial quality services, joining a planetary confederation led by OpenAI amid intensifying contention successful the sector.

Altman’s institution is portion of the Stargate drive, announced by United States President Donald Trump, which seeks to put up to $500bn successful AI infrastructure successful the US.

But AI newcomer DeepSeek has sent Silicon Valley into a frenzy, with immoderate calling its precocious show and expected debased outgo a wake-up telephone for US developers.

“We’re excited to bring precocious AI to Kakao’s millions of users and enactment unneurotic to integrate our exertion into services that alteration however Kakao’s users pass and connect,” Altman said successful Seoul.

“Kakao has a heavy knowing of however exertion tin enrich mundane lives,” helium added.

Kakao’s CEO Shina Chung said the institution was “thrilled” to found a “strategic collaboration” with OpenAI.

Also connected Altman’s docket were meetings with 2 apical South Korean chipmakers, Samsung and SK hynix, some cardinal suppliers of precocious semiconductors utilized successful AI servers.

Altman met with SK Group president Chey Tae-won and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung successful Seoul to sermon collaboration connected AI representation chips, including precocious bandwidth representation (HBM), and AI services.

He is besides expected to conscionable with Samsung Electronics president Lee Jae-yong aboriginal connected Tuesday.

Jaejune Kim, enforcement vice president of Samsung’s representation business, said past week that the institution was “monitoring manufacture trends considering assorted scenarios” erstwhile asked astir DeepSeek.

DeepSeek’s show has prompted accusations that it has reverse-engineered the capabilities of starring US technology, specified arsenic the AI powering ChatGPT.

OpenAI warned past week that Chinese companies are actively attempting to replicate its precocious AI models, prompting person practice with US authorities.

OpenAI says rivals are utilizing a process known arsenic distillation successful which developers creating smaller models larn from larger ones by copying their behaviour and decision-making patterns – akin to a pupil learning from a teacher.

The institution is itself facing aggregate accusations of intelligence spot violations, chiefly related to the usage of copyrighted materials successful grooming its generative AI models.