SK Telecom Assigns Employee Numbers to AI Agents: "Not Just Support Tools, but Colleagues"

Promoting "AX Innovation 2.0"
Introducing the AX Sandbox

Jaeheon Jung, CEO of SK Telecom, delivering a keynote speech at the "2026 New Icheon Forum" held on the 11th at the SKMS Research Center in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. Provided by SK Telecom.

SK Telecom announced on June 16 that it will assign employee identification numbers to artificial intelligence (AI) agents and manage them through processes similar to those for human employees, from onboarding to offboarding. The company plans to utilize AI not just as a work support tool, but as a true colleague working alongside its members.

Jaeheon Jeong, CEO of SK Telecom, announced last week at the SKMS Research Center in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, during the '2026 New Icheon Forum,' that the company will implement "AX Innovation 2.0" to establish an environment conducive to full-scale AI transformation (AX).

"AX Innovation 2.0" focuses on fundamentally redesigning the way members work so that AX can lead to a dramatic increase in organizational productivity and the transformation of the company’s business model.

At SK Telecom, AI agents will be managed through processes similar to those for human employees, receiving employee numbers, being assigned to departments and roles, and given appropriate authority from onboarding to offboarding. In particular, SK Telecom is establishing a governance system that enables people and AI agents to work together, including regulations for data and security access for AI agents.

Through this approach, AI agents will have clearly defined roles within the work system and collaborate with members, thereby reducing repetitive tasks and enabling employees to focus more on creative and strategic work.

SK Telecom is also introducing the "AX Sandbox" system. This is an in-house experiment that redesigns traditional work practices from scratch based on AI, and is characterized by a horizontal structure that operates without distinctions of position or department.

Over the past three months, a pilot of the "AX Sandbox" has been conducted within some teams of the AI CIC. During this process, the company confirmed the potential of the "Multi-Role" work style, where one person collaborates with multiple agents to perform various roles such as planning, development, and design; significant productivity improvements in planning tasks that previously required extensive time; and faster communication and decision-making processes.

The "AX Sandbox" will be gradually expanded company-wide. SK Telecom plans to support employees so that they can freely experiment with and validate new AI-driven ways of working in actual business settings.

The AI utilization environment will also be significantly improved. SK Telecom is upgrading its security systems to ensure that employees can use AI tools and agents safely, easily, and flexibly. At the same time, the company will integrate its existing internal AI development platforms such as A. Biz, Polaris, and Playground, and link them with key internal systems to enhance AI utilization across all business domains.

An implementation framework for evolving the work culture will also be established. SK Telecom plans to select "AX Catalysts" to drive AI transformation across all business areas. Those selected will share successful AX know-how within their teams and help resolve challenges encountered by employees in the field.

Additionally, the company is building a training system that enables members to learn AX anytime and anywhere, in the way they prefer. The curriculum will be expanded to focus on practical case studies, ensuring immediate applicability in the field. Furthermore, the existing AI transformation idea-sharing system will be upgraded to the "AX Library" to accumulate and disseminate members’ challenges and success stories as company-wide assets.

Jaeheon Jeong, CEO of SK Telecom, stated, "By making AX part of everyday life, the time and capabilities of our members will be transformed into driving forces for new challenges," adding, "We will spare no effort in supporting our members to freely build their AI capabilities and achieve outstanding results."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.