Siemens and Naver CEOs say AI pilots are failing industry without clean data
Industrial artificial intelligence is stuck in the pilot phase because companies cannot get their own data into a usable form, the chief executives of Siemens and Naver said at APK 2026 in Seoul, where 41 percent of an audience poll named data sharing and interoperability as the biggest obstacle to scaling the technology across regions.
Naver chief executive Choi Soo-yeon said businesses must first pull information scattered across paper records, employee computers and departmental systems into formats AI can use, and keep it accurate, current and open to authorised users. Generating reports with AI does not by itself raise productivity, she said; companies should measure whether it cuts waiting times, improves efficiency or removes repetitive work.
Siemens chief executive Roland Busch put leadership at the centre of adoption, arguing that ambitious targets set from the top drive companywide rollouts. He cited a Japanese automaker that deployed Siemens technology across 10,000 machines and recovered its investment in under three months. Busch also called for clear data-sharing policies, noting that customer data could train industrial AI models without necessarily leaving company premises.
On technological sovereignty, Choi said countries and companies can collaborate across semiconductors, AI models and services while keeping control of their own data. Busch pointed to possible synergies between Siemens' chip design technologies and Korean semiconductor manufacturers, and to cooperation in life sciences and drug development. Choi said AI adoption has so far centred on office work, while the larger opportunity lies in the equipment and production data held by manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor.
On jobs, Busch warned that repetitive, rules-based roles face displacement and called for reforms in education and workforce training. Choi said Naver keeps hiring every year but will need new business models to offset rising AI-related costs. She also pointed to Naver's more than four years of running 200-plus delivery robots at its 1784 headquarters as evidence of how hard reliable AI-powered services are to operate alongside people. Busch later visited Naver's headquarters, where the two companies reaffirmed a partnership covering Siemens fire protection systems and Naver's Gak data centre infrastructure.
