South Korean carrier SK Telecom is shifting its workplace AI drive toward changing how teams operate, seeking productivity gains as companywide results remain unquantified so far.
The company said Sunday, Nov. 1, that its AX Innovation 2.0 program will reorganize collaboration and workflows around AI. More than 4,000 employees have created AI agents, and 1,500 agents are regularly used, SK Telecom said. Reports on a Friday, Oct. 30, briefing put monthly AI-agent users above 7,500.
The company’s Nov. 1 announcement did not quantify productivity gains or savings across its workforce. At the briefing, Kim In-soo, head of SK Telecom’s AI Board, said that adding explanations to about 300,000 network data fields raised the correct-answer rate for related AI questions from around 40% to more than 80%.
Kim estimated that using external models to process those explanations would cost 100 million to 200 million won a year. The briefing said SK Telecom used internal models and computing infrastructure for the work; reports did not quantify actual savings.
AX Innovation 2.0 includes a task force for shared obstacles such as data access, security and connections to internal systems. A sandbox will let teams test redesigned processes, while a catalyst program is intended to spread practices developed by employees. SK Telecom selected 10 employees for the first catalyst group in September.
The company says its Z.E.Z. (Zero Exposure Zone) technology keeps sensitive raw data separate and gives AI processing outputs such as metadata or calculations. SK Telecom said it had filed related patents. Its AX J-curve framework anticipates an adjustment period when retraining and workflow and data changes may weigh on productivity, followed by potential improvement.
In March, SK Telecom reported that an AI tool for security-code reviews cut work time by 30%, or about 3,000 hours a year. That result applies to the review task and does not measure the impact of the broader workplace program.
