Samsung reverses 3-year ChatGPT ban, deploys enterprise OpenAI, Gemini, Claude to 300K+ employees
Samsung Electronics has dramatically reversed its 2023 ban on generative AI tools, announcing on June 11–12, 2026 that it will deploy ChatGPT Enterprise, Google's Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude to all employees in Korea and globally across its Device eXperience (DX) division. This is one of OpenAI's largest enterprise deployments to date. The reversal marks a complete policy shift following a highly publicized March 2023 incident where Samsung engineers leaked sensitive source code into ChatGPT, triggering a company-wide prohibition on external AI tools.
Before the full rollout, Samsung SDS (its IT services arm) ran a two-month proof-of-concept with 2,500 employees from April–May 2026 to test ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Based on those results, the company built a security control layer that gates access to employees who complete mandatory internal security training and implements data-loss-prevention controls that inspect prompts and block sensitive material before it reaches external models. Samsung is also deploying its in-house Samsung Gauss model alongside the external tools, using a two-track strategy to keep sensitive work internal while using external vendors for general tasks.
Codex, OpenAI's code-generation agent integrated into the ChatGPT Enterprise package, will be available to all DX division employees worldwide (tens of thousands across continents covering Galaxy phones, home appliances, and other products) plus all Samsung employees in Korea. Since February 1, 2026, Codex weekly active users in Korea have grown nearly 800%, signaling strong demand. Training for the full global workforce is expected to complete by end of 2026.
The strategic shift reflects Samsung's broader 'AI Transformation' (AX) initiative announced by Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who ordered AI integration across R&D, production, marketing, and support functions. For enterprises evaluating enterprise AI adoption, Samsung's reversal demonstrates the confidence now warranted in vendor guarantees around data handling: enterprise-tier contracts from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic explicitly commit not to train on customer data by default, and offer retention controls that the 2023 incident did not provide.