Transcending AI support for specific tasks to stage of executing actual projects

Upgrade Korea's infrastructure and business hub, prepare 'inference residency' and collaborate with domestic companies

OpenAI declared its transition from 'answering AI' to 'working AI'. Beyond simply answering people's questions or summarizing documents, an era of AI agents that independently perform research, analysis, planning, design, development, and document writing when given a goal is opening. OpenAI, marking its first year in Korea, presented these changes through GPT-6 Astra and announced plans to expand its Korea market strategy.

OpenAI held a press briefing on the 9th at Chosun Palace Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and disclosed its domestic business performance over the past year and future strategy. On the surface, it was a one-year anniversary event since entering the Korean market, but the center of the announcement was the recently unveiled 'GPT-6 Astra'.

Kim Kyung-hun, CEO of OpenAI Korea, divided the AI development process into 2023 chatbots, 2024 reasoning models, and early 2025 agent era, then explained that we are currently entering a stage where multiple agents collaborate to perform tasks.

He stated, "As AI calls other AI and collaborates, agents are becoming a single team," and added, "We are entering an era where when people present goals, AI remembers, judges, and completes results."

Indeed, the Astra demonstration unveiled that day differed in quality from previous AI demos. Rather than the past approach of writing code or performing specific functions, the focus was on showing the entire process of operating a business.

Shim Dae-yeol, an OpenAI engineer who conducted the GPT-6 Astra demonstration, set up a virtual startup called 'Blossom Company' and then instructed the AI on tasks through voice alone.

The AI found store promotional videos and interior proposal documents, presented brand logos and website mockups, and generated product planning proposals and promotional videos.

It then analyzed sales data, organized meeting minutes, and even suggested new product launch strategies.

The user only reviewed and approved results without directly intervening in individual task processes.

This is interpreted as an attempt to show that AI has transcended the level of assisting specific tasks and reached the stage of executing actual projects.

What OpenAI emphasized was not the performance of language models but 'task completion capability'. GPT-6 Astra was presented as a kind of digital employee that finds and analyzes information, creates documents, designs, manages collaborative materials, and carries forward subsequent tasks.

OpenAI explained that such changes are also appearing in actual usage metrics.

The scale of ChatGPT Enterprise usage in Korea has increased 28 times over the past year.

In particular, ChatGPT Works and Codex users utilizing AI agent functions grew 14 times in just six months since March.

This means that demand for substantial task processing tools rather than simple conversational services is rapidly increasing.

Notably, the scope of AI utilization is expanding beyond development organizations.

CEO Kim Kyung-hun cited legal organizations as one of the fastest-growing sectors in recent Codex user increases.

He explained that AI agents are being used across diverse job categories including legal, finance, human resources, accounting, marketing, and sales, and that AI is expanding from a tool for technology organizations to an enterprise-wide task platform.

OpenAI's Samsung Electronics and Seoul National University cases also show the same trend.

Samsung Electronics utilizes ChatGPT for enterprise-wide tasks including research and development, marketing, sales, and production management, while Seoul National University is pursuing AI-based research and administrative innovation with approximately 50,000 students and faculty members.

This signifies that AI is becoming established not as an experimental tool for a specific department but as the operational foundation for entire organizations.

Another notable aspect of this event was the shift in OpenAI's Korea strategy.

While Korea was an important user market until last year, there is now a clear movement to elevate it to an infrastructure and business hub.

OpenAI announced that in addition to currently providing data residency, it is preparing 'inference residency' that would enable AI inference to be performed domestically.

For this purpose, it is consulting with domestic infrastructure service providers and is also promoting future service provision through domestic data centers.

This is a measure to meet data sovereignty and security requirements that corporate customers are sensitive about.

Cybersecurity is also presented as a new growth axis.

OpenAI is expanding collaboration with domestic enterprises and public institutions centered on Daybreak, a security-dedicated service, and announced it is conducting pilot projects with domestic companies including Samsung SDS.

The assessment is that the market for using AI to stop attackers and identify security vulnerabilities will be a key area for the next generation.

The advertising business is also being substantially expanded.

ChatGPT ads introduced in Korea in June are currently being operated targeting some free users, and OpenAI is establishing dedicated organizations in Korea and expanding advertiser and ad agency networks.

This shows that AI services are growing beyond simple technology platforms into massive consumer platforms.

Ultimately, the core of this press conference was not 28-fold growth or increased users but the changing role of AI.

OpenAI no longer described ChatGPT as a chatbot that answers questions.

Instead, it defined it as a 'task-executing agent' that sets plans on its own when given goals, leverages multiple tools, and completes deliverables.

On the occasion of marking one year since its Korea entry, OpenAI essentially made a new declaration.

It is a declaration that the era of 'answering AI' is waning, and the age of AI that works with people or sometimes works in place of people is beginning.

And GPT-6 Astra was presented as the starting point of that transformation.