What Samsung’s AI Transformation (AX) Program Is
Samsung’s AI Transformation (AX) program is a company-wide initiative that combines mandatory employee AI training, access to leading generative AI tools, and new in-house AI teams to embed artificial intelligence into everyday work across all business units. Announced on June 9, AX is designed to move Samsung from isolated experiments to systematic generative AI adoption across software development, marketing, manufacturing, and business operations. The program positions AI as a core productivity layer rather than an optional tool, with expectations that employees will use systems such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude in their daily workflows. According to Chosunbiz reporting cited by Gizmochina, Samsung plans to roll out a group-wide “AX Vision” that explains how AI will support decision-making, automation, and collaboration across the Samsung Group, turning AI into shared corporate infrastructure rather than a niche capability.
Mandatory employee AI training at massive scale
The most ambitious piece of Samsung’s AI Transformation is scale: the company aims to provide employee AI training to roughly 280,000 people by the end of 2026. This includes AI literacy, hands-on practice with generative tools, and guidance on how to integrate AI into daily workflows. Training starts with leadership and cascades down. Around 50 group presidents will attend a two-day AX Bootcamp at the Samsung Human Resources Development Institute, while about 2,300 senior executives will take part in three-day sessions scheduled to wrap their first round by mid-August. This structured rollout signals that AI skills are becoming a baseline expectation, similar to office software proficiency. For Samsung, it also creates a shared vocabulary and set of practices so teams across hardware, software, and services can advance generative AI adoption together rather than in scattered pockets.
Multi-model access: ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude in the workplace
Instead of locking into a single vendor, Samsung’s corporate AI strategy gives employees access to several leading generative AI platforms, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude. These tools will support a wide range of tasks, from drafting technical documentation and marketing copy to assisting with software development and manufacturing operations. This multi-model approach reflects a view that no single tool is best for every workflow, and that different models may excel at reasoning, coding, or long-form content. It also reduces dependence on one provider as generative AI evolves. In effect, Samsung is treating AI services as a standard part of its digital workplace stack, similar to email or cloud storage. By making ChatGPT workplace integration and other tools a requirement rather than an option, the company is testing how far generative AI can streamline routine work at scale.
New AI departments and the shift from pilots to platforms
To sustain its Samsung AI transformation, the company plans to establish dedicated AI departments within each subsidiary. These teams will manage technology selection, develop internal expertise, and guide generative AI adoption in line with the AX Vision. They also create clear accountability for security, compliance, and best practices as employees experiment with generative tools. This structure marks a turning point from short-term pilots to AI as an ongoing corporate capability. The initiative “is one of Samsung’s largest efforts yet to expand AI adoption beyond products and into the way the company itself operates,” as noted by Gizmochina. It mirrors a wider industry pattern where enterprises are building permanent AI functions, not one-off task forces, to integrate automation and decision support into core processes such as product design, supply chain, and customer operations.
What Samsung’s AX move signals for corporate AI strategy
Samsung’s AX program shows how generative AI adoption is shifting from optional experimentation to enforced standards for knowledge work. By combining mandatory training, multi-model access, and new AI departments, the company is turning AI from a specialist tool into shared infrastructure. For employees, this means AI competence is likely to become a key performance expectation, not a side skill. For other firms watching, AX suggests an emerging playbook: start with leadership bootcamps, define a clear corporate AI strategy, deploy several leading models rather than one, and train the entire workforce. The message is that productivity gains will come less from isolated AI pilots and more from consistent, company-wide usage. As more organizations follow this path, AI-ready cultures and policies may matter as much as the underlying technologies themselves.
