Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung. Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
Hyundai Motor Group will pre-test products slated for release using virtual consumers in a virtual space. Hyundai Motor’s (005380) “AI Transformation (AX)” vision aims to dramatically innovate product planning operations by leveraging the latest information technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and world models. The project also involves the group’s in-house AI agent “AIMI.”
According to the IT industry on the 21st, Hyundai Motor Group announced the AI simulation plan at the “Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit Seoul” held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul on the 20th. The group is planning a simulation in which AI equipped with virtual personas uses unreleased products in a virtual world built with a world model. A world model refers to a model that can understand and simulate the operating principles of the real world, such as physics and dynamics.
Hyundai Motor Group’s goal is to obtain accurate market response predictions during the product development stage through AI simulation. The core idea is to transfer products and consumers into a virtual environment that closely resembles reality, then forecast product performance and consumer reactions. In particular, AI behaviors that mimic humans—such as using products and leaving reviews—are expected to serve as key reference materials for product development. The approach essentially recreates, in a virtual environment, the consumer panel surveys that companies currently conduct with a small group of participants before product launches. AI simulation has the advantage of completing market research faster and at lower cost compared to producing prototypes and conducting panel surveys.
The simulation is being pursued as part of Hyundai Motor Group’s “AIMI” project. AIMI is an in-house AI agent for business use that Hyundai Motor Group recently developed together with AWS and Hyundai AutoEver (307950). AIMI is already being used for marketing and product planning tasks, including web-based market research. Hyundai Motor’s AI strategy is to expand AIMI’s scope of work and build a new AI-driven product planning system. The AI simulation is one category within this system, entrusting AI agents with the task of predicting and quantifying consumer responses in the virtual world.
Sunwoo Kyung-hee, head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Market Intelligence (MI) Center, who delivered the presentation, said, “We will plan products with future market competitiveness by testing demand from virtual consumers who reflect the personalities of real consumers.” She added, “There is a long way to go, but we are also drawing up substantial plans.” ▷See page 3