Anthropic, developer of the AI model Claude, is set to compete head-to-head with ChatGPT creator OpenAI in the Korean market. The company is accelerating the establishment of its Korean office by launching recruitment for sales and development positions in the country. As competition between Anthropic and OpenAI intensifies in the United States, rivalry among global companies including Google and Anthropic is expected to heat up further over Korea, a market with high AI adoption.
Anthropic Launches Korea Hiring for Sales and Development Roles
According to industry sources, Anthropic is currently recruiting for six positions in Korea. While specific requirements vary by role, candidates generally need three to ten years of experience in their respective fields.
Prior to the hiring push, Anthropic appointed Scott Alexander Booth from its legal team as a director of its Korean entity last month. The company is also separately seeking a Korea country manager. Industry observers expect the Korean office to officially open once the country manager is appointed and the organization is established. This will be Anthropic's third overseas office in the Asia-Pacific region, following India and Japan.
Anthropic is targeting enterprise customers in the Korean market. In its job postings, the company stated it will "execute strategic contracts with Korean companies and create new value streams across their businesses" and "serve as key technical advisors to enterprise customers in adopting Claude, a generative AI." The inclusion of sales roles targeting both large corporations and startups signals a clear intent to pursue the B2B market.
This is why competition between OpenAI and Anthropic for enterprise customers in Korea is anticipated. OpenAI established its Korean entity last year and has been accelerating B2B business expansion. Having recruited Kim Kyung-hoon, former head of Google Korea, as country manager, OpenAI is hiring director-level talent to handle sales to large enterprises and SMEs.
Industry observers are also noting OpenAI's partnership with Kakao to sell a "one-month ChatGPT Pro subscription" for 29,000 won starting June 12. ChatGPT Pro is the highest tier of ChatGPT's paid memberships, capable of handling complex data analysis, long-form report writing, and code generation and verification. The monthly subscription for ChatGPT Pro in Korea is $200 (approximately 288,500 won) via web payment. Purchasing through KakaoTalk's gift service means users can access ChatGPT Pro at one-tenth the price.
Industry observers view this promotion as part of OpenAI's effort to expand paid model experience among customers. "OpenAI appears to be targeting a lock-in effect by increasing the number of customers who experience its paid model through KakaoTalk, Korea's largest messenger platform," said an industry insider. "This will ultimately aim to attract enterprise customers."
OpenAI vs. Anthropic: Who Will Dominate the Market?
Industry observers predominantly view the competition between OpenAI and Anthropic as a long-anticipated battle for AI supremacy. This is because Anthropic was founded in 2021 by CEO Dario Amodei and others who previously worked at OpenAI. Dario Amodei left after clashing with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the company's direction and AI safety issues. Unlike Sam Altman, Dario Amodei has expressed concerns about the unchecked power of AI. The company's philosophy is to have a positive impact on society even while pursuing profits.
Recently, Anthropic drew attention by airing an advertisement that appeared to mock OpenAI before and after the Super Bowl. Targeting OpenAI's announcement that it would introduce advertising to ChatGPT, Anthropic ran the tagline: "Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude."
Industry experts also rate Claude's performance as superior to ChatGPT. The recently launched "Claude CoWork" enables office workers without programming knowledge to create workflow automation apps for document summarization, data analysis, and contract review through conversations with AI. It has been praised as a potential replacement for expensive specialized software.
Korea is considered a market where generative AI usage has spread rapidly. According to Mobile Index, ChatGPT's monthly active users in Korea reached approximately 14.29 million as of January this year, a roughly 277-fold increase from 2023. Claude usage is also substantial. According to economic index data released by Anthropic last month, Korea ranked seventh globally in Claude usage, behind Israel, Singapore, and the United States.