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Krafton Creates Chief AI Officer Role, Appoints Kangwook Lee to Lead Companywide Strategy

The appointment centralizes AI strategy under a roadmap spanning gameplay features, developer tools, exploratory robotics.

Overview

  • As CAIO, Kangwook Lee will oversee Krafton's AI research and development and set the company's mid- to long-term AI roadmap.
  • Krafton says its AI plan rests on three pillars: elevating gameplay with features like co-playable characters, enhancing operational efficiency with development tools, and pursuing new growth through long-horizon research.
  • A separate entity called Ludo Robotics is being established with a U.S. parent and a Korean subsidiary led by Lee to explore physical AI through software-focused, simulation-based research.
  • Lee previously led Krafton's proprietary foundation model effort and a 2025 collaboration with Nvidia that produced real-time, AI-driven co-playable characters.
  • The move follows record 2025 revenue and profit and recent restructuring that included a hiring freeze and a voluntary resignation program, with Lee emphasizing AI as a means to amplify human creativity rather than replace workers.