South Korea’s vice prime minister says the wealth of AI must benefit society. The Samsung strike showed why.
The TL;DR
South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister says the wealth of AI must reach the public, citing the release of Hyundai’s Atlas robot from Samsung as a warning.
South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister, Bae Kyung-hoon, said the wealth created by artificial intelligence must benefit society at large, warning that the labor dispute that nearly shut down Samsung Electronics this week is not an isolated incident but a preview of what the AI era will produce. Speaking to CNBC on Friday, Bae said that as AI generates unprecedented corporate profits, the question of how that wealth is distributed, and whether the technology is crippling inequality, is now a matter of national policy.
“In the AI era, many of these great companies will continue to emerge,” said Bae.In that process, conflicts between management and employees may continue to arise, and if they do, it will be important to resolve them wisely through negotiations.“
The reference was clear. Samsung’s largest labor union has been preparing for an 18-day strike that South Korea’s prime minister has warned could cost $668 million a day. Going public was suspended on Wednesday after government-led talks produced an unaltered deal. The workers wanted 15% of Samsung’s operating profit to be given to bonuses and be formalized in employment contracts. Samsung gave 10%. The union is voting on the proposed agreement from Friday to May 27.
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The argument was not true. Samsung’s operating profit for Q1 2026 reached ₩57.2 trillion, an eight-fold increase year-on-year, driven almost entirely by high-end memory chips for AI infrastructure. The Lee family’s wealth doubled to $45.5 billion in twelve months. Samsung’s share price is up nearly 144% year to date. SK Hynix is up nearly 200%. The Kospi index has gained more than 86% in 2026, surpassing last year’s increase of 75%. Wealth is real, tangible, and tangible.
Bae, who also serves as South Korea’s science and technology minister, pointed to the Hyundai car company as another pressure. The company is integrating Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robots into its manufacturing processes, deployments that Bae said have produced “many worries and concerns” for the impact on employees. Hyundai acquired a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics in 2021 and announced its AI robotics strategy at CES 2026, positioning itself to lead what it calls “the era of human-centered robots.” The frame is a desire. For workers on the production line, anxiety is very fast.
The political context adds urgency. On May 12, South Korean presidential aide Kim Yeong Beom proposed on Facebook to distribute excess tax revenue from Korea’s AI and semiconductor industry directly to citizens. The post caused chaos in the markets, with shares of Samsung and SK Hynix falling sharply before the official clarified that the proposal was Kim’s idea and not the subject of official government discussions. The fact that even speculating about redistributing AI wealth could move billions from market capitalization shows how serious the question has become.
Bae set Seoul’s goal as building “A society that includes AI, a society where no one is left behind in the age of AI.” The language echoes similar commitments from European and American policymakers, but South Korea’s situation is unusual. The country’s economy is more dependent on semiconductor production than any other developed country. Chips accounted for 37% of South Korea’s total exports in April. Samsung and SK Hynix together represent a disproportionate share of Kospi’s profits among Kospi’s many interests in the AI sector is not one.
When asked if the concentration of market advantages in the two companies represents a risk, Bae argued that Samsung and SK Hynix sit on a broad ecosystem of suppliers and service companies that also benefit. He said South Korea is now trying to establish a competitive advantage in virtual AI, a category that includes robots, autonomous vehicles, and industrial systems that can sense, think, and operate in real-world environments. “Semiconductors and AI infrastructure provide the basic foundation,” said Bae.In addition, Korea is trying to build a full spectrum of AI capabilities, including various hardware devices, software, and related services.“
The tension between AI-driven productivity and the displacement of workers is global. Detroit’s Big Three automakers cut 20,000 white-collar jobs while outsourcing hundreds of AI positions. Salesforce has cut 4,000 support workers after deploying AI agents. The pattern is consistent across industries and geographies: AI is making companies more profitable and workers smaller, and the question of who captures the benefits is becoming a defining political issue around technology adoption.
The South Korean version of this question is sharper than most because the benefits are more concentrated. Two companies, in one sector, in one country, have seen their combined market value rise by hundreds of billions of dollars in six months. Workers on the assembly lines producing the memory chips powering the AI boom are almost out of a job this week. Bae’s statement that “The benefits of AI should also flow to society” is an acknowledgment that the market alone will not solve the distribution problem. That Seoul’s policy response is like a measure of its words will be tested every time the next Samsung contract cycle comes around, and every time the Hyundai plant installs another Atlas robot.
