Five-minute video marks the conglomerate’s 73rd anniversary and is shared companywide.
Founding Chairman Chey Jong-kun (left) and late Chairman Chey Jong-hyon recreated by artificial intelligence (AI) in a video produced for SK Group’s 73rd founding anniversary (Photo courtesy of SK SUPEX Council)
SK Group has produced and released a video to all its members that recreates the late Founding Chairman Chey Jong-kun and late Chairman Chey Jong-hyon using artificial intelligence (AI) to commemorate its 73rd founding anniversary. This marks the first time that all elements of such a video have been created solely with AI.
SK Group announced that the 5-minute AI content, featuring the life stories and sayings of the two founding-generation chairmen, has been screening on the first-floor media wall of the SK Seorin Building (Jongno-gu, Seoul) since April 13. The same video is also being broadcast through the company’s internal network, making it accessible to all SK Group employees. The video was first unveiled earlier at the 73rd anniversary Memorial Day event held at Seonhyewon (Seoul) in Jongno-gu on April 8.
The project began with a proposal from SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won. Chairman Chey suggested the idea, stating, “It would be great to use AI to share the DNA of boldness and intellect cherished by SK Group’s founding generation with our members,” which initiated the full-scale production of the video. The AI learned from a vast collection of historical materials, including the corporate history book (社史), books written by the late chairmen, and the ‘Sunkyong Sillok’ compiled last year from the digital restoration of over 3,000 voice recording tapes, to carry out the entire process from scriptwriting to video production. Although commemorative videos about the founders had been produced before, they relied on methods such as filming with stand-in actors or using computer graphics.
The video begins with the reconstruction of Sunkyong Textiles in 1953, which had been reduced to ruins by the Korean War, and chronicles the group’s history of growth. In the video, Founding Chairman Chey Jong-kun (1926-1973) says, “Seeing the factory that was nothing but a pile of ashes, everyone said it was over. Is there anything easy in life? Management was always the same. But I never hesitated in the face of opportunity.” Founding Chairman Chey laid the foundation for growth through decisions such as producing nylon in 1958, the success of the ‘Dakpyo Ankam’ (Rooster Brand Lining), and the acquisition of the Walkerhill Hotel, leaving behind the words, “My belief is that we can do it, we must do it, and we will succeed if we do.”
Late Chairman Chey Jong-hyon (1929-1998), who took over the group’s management after his brother’s passing in 1973, recalls, “I pledged to make Sunkyong a world-class company,” and through the video, he conveys the process of pursuing vertical integration and the directive to “Continuously prepare, plan, and challenge.” He particularly reflects on the decision in 1994 to acquire Korea Mobile Telecommunications in a public privatization bid by offering an amount more than four times the market price, emphasizing, “Everyone hesitated, saying ‘it’s not tangible’ and ‘the future is a distant story,’ but an entrepreneur must look 10 years ahead.” This acquisition became the foundation for the information and communications technology business that led to SK Telecom and SK hynix. In the video, the late Chairman Chey also left a message of advice: “Do not fear crises. An entrepreneur must always look 10 years ahead. It’s about upholding the principles and standards within us, while continuously rewriting them.”
A message delivered by Chairman Chey Tae-won on the founding anniversary in 2022 is inserted at the end of the video: “Let’s write a new history of another great leap forward with the intensity, noble spirit, and solid potential we inherited from the two of them.” Chairman Chey, who watched the video in person at the Memorial Day event, expressed his anticipation for the potential of AI technology, stating, “The accuracy of the video and audio is quite high, and I expect the level will be much higher in one or two years.”
An SK Group official stated, “This is a moment when the group’s growth history, which progressed from its founding to petroleum, mobile communications, and semiconductors, is now continuing with AI.” The official added, “We expect that the original mindset and message of ‘boldness’ and ‘intellect,’ the legacy of the founding generation, will serve as a compass and a source of wisdom in this rapidly changing business environment.”
Jung Suk-yee
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