AI wealth must benefit the public, South Korea’s deputy PM says

South Korea must ensure that wealth created by artificial intelligence benefits the wider public, Deputy Prime Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said, even as the country grapples with labor tensions at Samsung Electronics and a stock-market rally increasingly powered by its biggest chipmakers.

Speaking to CNBC’s Lisa Kim on Friday, Bae said the AI era has raised broader questions over how wealth generated by the technology should be distributed, whether AI could worsen inequality and whether it could lead to job losses.

“Recent labor-management conflicts can also be seen as part of this broader trend,” he added, referring to Samsung Electronics, where a planned 18-day strike by unionized workers was suspended Wednesday after government officials stepped in at the last minute to head off a walkout.

Workers had demanded a formalization of bonuses in their contracts, the scrapping of bonus caps, and a payout of 15% of Samsung’s operating profits as bonuses.

A tentative deal was reached on Wednesday, with the union voting on the plan from Friday to 27 May.

Bae does not expect such industrial action to be a one-off event.

“In the age of AI, more of these super-large companies will continue to emerge. In that process, labor-management conflicts may continue to arise, and when they do, it will be important to resolve them wisely through dialogue,” Bae said.

He pointed at automaker Hyundai, and said that there are “many concerns and worries” about its integration of Atlas robots – made by Boston Dynamics – into its manufacturing process.

What South Korea needs is not only the ability to create “great wealth” with AI, but to also judge how the wealth and technology can be used properly, and the impact it will have on the public, Bae said.

“The benefits of AI must also go to the public,” Bae added, saying that Seoul is deeply focused on building an “AI-inclusive society — a society where no one is left behind in the AI era.”

His comments come after South Korean presidential official Kim Yeong Beom proposed on Facebook on May 12 to distribute excess tax revenue generated from Korea’s artificial intelligence and semiconductor sectors to citizens, sparking turmoil in markets.

An official later reportedly clarified that the post was Kim’s opinion, and not a subject of formal discussions.