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Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin. / Photo courtesy of Lotte Group

Lotte is shifting its artificial intelligence transformation (AX) strategy into high gear under the leadership of Chairman Shin Dong-bin. With Chairman Shin personally participating in AI training and developing AI agents, the group-wide push to strengthen AI capabilities is expected to accelerate workplace innovation.

On June 16, Lotte announced that it recently concluded its "CEO AI Academy" for top executives from its affiliates. Designed to shift management's mindset toward AI innovation and enhance practical competencies, the training program ran every weekend starting June 1 and drew approximately 50 CEOs from across the group.

Chairman Shin directly participated in the training sessions held on June 5 and 6. The program featured hands-on workshops where participants built AI services using vibe coding and developed their own AI agents. Following the training, Chairman Shin reportedly discussed the group's AX roadmap and future execution plans.

"AX is not a matter of choice, but a matter of absolute survival for our group," Shin emphasized. "To foster a revolutionary change in the way we work, we will support all employees so that they can equip themselves with the capability to develop AI agents."

Lotte plans to roll out practical AI agent training for all employees by the end of this year. The goal is to transform the workplace environment by letting AI handle repetitive tasks, such as data analysis and report writing, thereby allowing employees to focus on higher-value operations.

To support this initiative, the group will integrate external generative AI next month and expand the AI environment for its workforce. Furthermore, Lotte plans to host the "Lotte AI Hackathon" to test employees' AI agent development skills, alongside the "AI Challenge" to evaluate the performance of core AI projects across different affiliates.

Lotte anticipates that the widespread adoption of AI will redefine the role of middle managers across the organization. Moving beyond traditional workforce management, the ability to efficiently coordinate and operate diverse AI agents in tandem with team members will become increasingly vital. Accordingly, Lotte plans to give greater weight to AI utilization and management capabilities in future hiring and performance evaluations.

Meanwhile, Lotte will host a two-day AX Strategy Meeting starting June 18, bringing together about 150 executives in charge of AI and IT across the group. Under the theme "The Real Value Created by AX," participants will share performance-driven AX strategies, discuss methods for building workplace platforms in the era of AI agents, and exchange best practices for AI integration.

                                                                                                    Jeong Moon-kyung