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Nvidia's stock price reached an all-time high on October 2. The surge is attributed to the $235 billion (roughly 324 trillion won) share buyback approval announced on September 28, though notably the record high came four days after the announcement, not on the announcement day itself.
Reports from multiple outlets on October 2 raised the likelihood that President Trump will nominate Jay Clayton, currently serving as Director of National Intelligence, as White House AI czar. If confirmed, a sitting intelligence chief would concurrently oversee AI policy — an unusual arrangement.
Physical AI startup Field AI, backed by Hyundai Motor Group, has seen its valuation rise fivefold to $10 billion (about 14 trillion won) in roughly a year, up from $2 billion. However, the latest figure is reported to be at a stage where the deal has not yet been formally finalized.
Pulmuone has restructured its online product information to accommodate growing traffic from AI search, while Walmart has partnered with OpenAI to introduce a shopping feature enabling direct checkout inside ChatGPT. As consumers shift from search bars to asking AI directly, sellers and retailers are overhauling their product information strategies.
The United States and Britain are maintaining policies to attract AI talent, while China has introduced a pre-approval system for overseas travel by senior AI personnel and, since late September, extended its scope to family members. The contrasting approaches highlight a stark temperature gap among nations competing for the same talent, with the Chinese measure framed as 'approval' rather than 'prohibition.'
Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint said on October 1 that TA419, a hacking group suspected of ties to the Chinese government, impersonated a former White House official and a US House member in attempts to compromise the cloud accounts of US AI policy experts. It is the first publicly disclosed report naming TA419, conducted in coordination with Anthropic.
The consortium of SK Telecom, Kakao and KT, selected for the government's 'AI for All' project, will launch its beta service this October. However, the initial release is a pilot for a restricted user base rather than the general public, with full public availability scheduled for December.
On October 3, a man in his 60s was struck and killed by a train on the northbound track between Sungkyunkwan University Station and Uiwang Station on Seoul Subway Line 1. The accident delayed northbound service by more than 2 hours and 40 minutes.
A paper indexed in Korea's academic citation index KCI has been retracted after it was found to contain fabricated sources generated by AI. It is the first retraction since the KCI system was introduced, and the paper is confirmed to have received 900 million won in research funding.
As of October 2, hacking incidents were confirmed in succession at Shinhan, KB Kookmin and Hana banks, with personal information of 244 people leaked, including 119 from one incident. The breach path ran not through customer banking but through employee-facing support systems such as loan recruiter lookups, and the 'AI hacking' method remains at the stage of speculation rather than official confirmation.