[Edaily Yun Junghoon· Reporter Shin Min-jun] Artificial intelligence (AI) is making its way into every stage of the marketing process. AI is involved from the stage of selecting customers to target with ads all the way through to the stage where consumers discover content and make purchases. However, at the end of the day, it is still people who make the final decisions.

This was the common message delivered by SKTelecom(017670)and Naver during the closing session of the “E-Marketing Insight Summit 2026,” held on the 15th at the FKI Tower in Yeouido, Seoul. Song Hoon-hwan, Head of SKT’s AI Marketing Team, stated, “What consumers dislike isn’t advertising itself, but ads that have nothing to do with them.”

SKT uses AI to analyze location, call, and app usage data from approximately 23 million customers to identify highly specific customer segments, such as “people in their 20s and 30s who are preparing for marriage and are interested in interior design.” At the Nonsan Strawberry Festival, the company provided real-time guidance on less crowded parking lots to visitors entering via the Nonsan Interchange. The survey service “AI Survey” can complete a survey of 600 people in just one hour.

SKT is also developing “T-Marketer,” an Agent AI that assists with ad monitoring, creative production, and budget allocation. The company explains that this collaborative structure allows the Agent AI to monitor ads during the early morning hours on behalf of junior staff, while marketers focus on decision-making and strategy.

Team Leader Song said, “I, too, feel a sense of crisis, wondering if AI will take my job,” but added, “AI cannot replace everything; ultimately, its role is to help people focus on their core tasks.”

Kang In-ho, Head of Naver’s Future AI Center, presented on the changes in search in the AI era and the future of content. He stated, “AI search is changing the way content is discovered,” adding, “It is shifting from simply displaying search results to finding, understanding, and connecting the necessary information.” If you ask Naver’s “AI Tab,” “Where can I find a popular brunch spot near Seokchon Lake with reservations available for three people on Saturday for lunch?” everything from recommendations to reservations can be completed on a single screen.

In this context, the content that the AI uses as the basis for its answers becomes crucial. Director Kang cited the question, “Who is the manager of the national baseball team for the upcoming Asian Games?” as an example. If relying solely on the AI model, it would provide an incorrect answer based on information from the 2023 Hangzhou Games—data that was last updated during the model’s training phase. However, by referencing both the latest user-generated content and the database, it provides the correct answer based on the 2026 Games.

He stated, “What determines the performance of an AI model is not the amount of data collected, but the quality of the data,” and outlined the criteria for good content as being fact- and knowledge-based, minimizing duplication and noise, and reflecting the latest information.

Director Kang identified the following characteristics of good content in the AI era: △ information unknown to AI models; △ information that AI can read and cite; and △ content with clear sources, dates, and authors that is consistently updated. He emphasized, “Content that AI can understand and utilize—beyond mere search visibility—is becoming increasingly important,” adding, “The vivid user experiences and opinions accumulated on blogs and online communities cannot be replaced by AI.”

He also took an open stance toward content created by AI.

“It would be strange to dismiss content simply because it was created using AI,” he said, adding, “AI is an excellent tool that we should embrace, and it does not determine the quality of the content itself.” He continued, “New technologies have always changed the way content is produced,” explaining, “Photography broadened the scope of expression rather than replacing painting, and digital technology has expanded the possibilities of creativity.”

He added, “Even when using AI, content must be created in a way that allows AI to read and verify it,” noting, “Even if AI reads, verifies, and summarizes the content, it is ultimately people who view and judge it.” He concluded, “Content created with the human viewer in mind will endure even in the age of AI.”