[Edaily Reporter Shin Yeong-bin ] “The automation rate in the steel and heavy chemical industries is already at 80–90%. People are filling in the remaining gaps.”

Shim Min-seok, CEO of POSCO DX, made this statement on the 13th at the “2026 Regional AX Bridge” event held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, while introducing strategies for innovation in manufacturing sites and office operations using artificial intelligence (AI).

CEO Shim emphasized that the value created in actual industrial settings is more important than AI technology itself. “We should embrace AI as a colleague, with people at its core,” he said, adding, “It is not meant to replace people.”

“We asked ourselves: What value will we provide? Who needs that value? And how can we make it sustainable?” he explained. “By focusing on the value customers seek from AI, we came to concentrate on Physical AI and the AI workforce.”

“All Equipment Is a Robot”… The Era of AI-Operated Factories

POSCO DX is developing an “AI Operator” that allows AI to directly control equipment in manufacturing facilities that was previously operated by humans. This strategy aims to increase the autonomy of factory operations by applying AI to operating methods while maintaining existing equipment.

CEO Shim stated, “Physical AI is not a humanoid,” adding, “All equipment is a type of robot. The methodology of adding autonomous control to that is Physical AI.”

Existing factory automation systems operate according to predetermined rules, which limits their ability to respond to unexpected situations. This is why human judgment is still required to handle unforeseen circumstances even in the steel and heavy chemical industries, where automation is already well advanced.

POSCO DX is focusing on filling this gap with AI. CEO Shim explained, “Until now, humans have been bridging the gap between automation systems and the real world,” adding, “We wondered if we could replace humans with AI for monitoring tasks.”

He explained that, in actual raw material unloading facilities, they have achieved unmanned operation for approximately 80% of the total working time. For the remaining 20%, a single worker can manage two to three pieces of equipment by monitoring or performing some manual operations.

The target performance for the AI was set not at the highest level of human expertise, but at the average level of operational skill. CEO Shim explained, “It isn’t better than humans,” but added, “However, its ability to perceive more environmental factors simultaneously than humans is definitely an advantage.”

He also pointed out that a foundational automation environment must be established before rushing to adopt Physical AI. Speaking with reporters after the presentation, CEO Shim emphasized, “In many actual field sites, the foundation is not yet in place,” adding, “While skipping a step might present an opportunity, we must build up the field step by step.”

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Humans Work alongside AI Employees… “Human Judgment Is Becoming More Important”

POSCO DX is also establishing an “AI workforce” system where humans and AI work together on office tasks. This approach involves entrusting repetitive tasks and data analysis to AI agents while maintaining existing business systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and groupware.

In the accounting department, AI agents have been tasked with retrieving and verifying receivables data and preparing settlement reports. This has reduced the time required for receivables settlement by approximately 80%. Even in executive meetings, AI agents announce the end time of the meeting and prepare meeting minutes and follow-up task lists.

CEO Shim also introduced a personal AI agent trained on his meeting remarks and minutes from the past two years. “I’ve been telling people, ‘I’ll be going on vacation someday, so please hold meetings with my AI agent,’” he said. “I think the day may come when I’ll only receive reports on specific matters.”

Job transitions resulting from AI adoption are also underway. CEO Shim stated, “Our goal is to transition 10% of our finance staff to new roles,” adding, “Those who have voluntarily chosen to transition are receiving AI training and are beginning to serve as consultants who combine finance with AI.”

CEO Shim explained that even if AI takes over existing tasks, the role of humans will remain crucial. This is because tasks must be broken down into smaller steps so that AI agents can perform them, and a process is needed where humans review the results and make decisions at each stage.

“The role of Saramins will never diminish,” he said, adding, “In fact, in some respects, it will become even more important, and there will be an increase in tasks requiring clear Saramin judgment.”

POSCO DX is also pursuing a “Customer Zero” strategy, which involves first applying and validating AI technology within the group before expanding it to external manufacturing sites. CEO Shim explained, “Even if we fail, let’s try it internally first,” adding, “Once a good solution emerges and is validated, we’ll take it to the local community.”

CEO Shim emphasized, “Physical AI is not an end in itself but an excellent tool for bridging the gap between reality and existing systems,” adding, “AI is evolving toward collaboration with humans.”