SK AX, Mercer to build AI platform for HR transformation

SK AX, the AI transformation unit of SK Corp, will partner with global HR consulting firm Mercer to build an agentic AI platform aimed at helping companies transition to AI-driven operations. The two firms plan to redesign corporate organizational structures and working methods around human-AI collaboration to boost employee capabilities.

SK AX announced Sunday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Mercer to jointly develop an "AI+Human organizational operating model" and build an agentic AI platform. The signing ceremony was held at SK AX's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and was attended by SK AX President Kim Wan-jong and Mercer Korea Co-CEO Jang Ji-won, along with other executives from both companies.

Mercer is a global HR consulting firm and a business unit of Marsh, a world leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, workforce and investment, and management consulting. It advises clients in 130 countries.

According to SK AX, corporate concerns have recently shifted beyond simply adopting AI toward what it calls "harness engineering" — an environment in which AI collaborates with humans and operates autonomously across systems. This allows repetitive tasks to be handled by AI while people focus on oversight and judgment, maximizing productivity.

SK AX said addressing this shift requires a fundamental transformation of how companies manage their organizations and HR systems.

Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly provide services covering the establishment of an organizational operating model for human-AI collaboration and the development of AI agent solutions, the building of talent recruitment, development and evaluation strategies and operating frameworks, and AI-based diagnostics for problem-solving capabilities.

Mercer will draw on its global HR consulting expertise to design organization-specific operating models and HR systems. SK AX will build an intelligent HR platform that enables people and AI to work together in real business environments.

SK AX said its intelligent HR platform is competitive as an integrated platform. Beyond redesigning organizational structures around AI, the platform handles everything from talent recruitment and development to performance management and evaluation.

"Competitiveness in the AI era depends not on whether a company has simply adopted AI, but on how quickly it can transform its ways of working and operating systems so the entire organization can move together with AI," SK AX President Kim Wan-jong said. "SK AX will combine its AI transformation experience and technology with Mercer's global HR insights and capabilities to help corporate customers innovate their organizational operations, talent development and working methods around AI."