May 16, 2024

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GS Group Chairman Huh Tae-soo (seventh from left, front row) visits Microsoft's headquarters in Seattle, along with CEOs of GS Group's major affiliates, Monday. (GS Group)

GS Group Chairman Huh Tae-soo has reiterated the significance of digital transformation as the Korean energy, retail and construction conglomerate continues to seek out business innovation opportunities.

According to GS Group on Wednesday, Huh and several CEOs of the conglomerate’s major affiliates such as GS Retail, GS Energy, GS Caltex and GS Engineering & Construction, held an annual overseas CEO meeting in Seattle from Monday to Tuesday and visited Microsoft's headquarters and Amazon Web Service to discuss digital transformation and generative artificial intelligence.

“The business environment is fluctuating but there is no future if we just shrink away from it,” said Huh.

“Rather, we have to regard it as an opportunity to accelerate business innovation and nurture talents from the inside. AI technology is a power that amplifies creativity and business potential. CEOs must take the lead in understanding technology so that digital innovation can happen naturally in the workplace.”

Huh and the CEOs observed cases of digital innovation during their visit to Microsoft and held discussions with local experts about the future of work and AI use in the industry. They later went to Amazon’s cloud computing business unit and reviewed ways to encourage work collaboration by combining data and AI technology.

Noting that each participating affiliate's executive in charge of digital transformation took part in the CEO meeting, GS Group said it showed the conglomerate's will to form a consensus among the upper levels of management.

The GS Group chairman has continuously pushed for digital transformation from the conglomerate’s affiliates since he took the top leadership position in February 2020. Under Huh’s lead, GS Group has conducted group-wide AI digital council meetings every quarter to check up on each affiliate’s progress in the realm of digital transformation.

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)