Samsung Electronics is rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise and Codex across a large part of its global workforce, marking a major shift for a company that once blocked generative AI tools over data-security concerns.
Announced on June 21, 2026, the deployment will make OpenAI’s workplace AI tools available to all Samsung Electronics employees in South Korea and to employees worldwide in the company’s Device eXperience division. That division is responsible for products such as Galaxy smartphones, televisions, monitors, and home appliances, making the rollout one of the largest enterprise AI deployments in the technology sector.
The move is notable because Samsung was one of the earliest major companies to restrict generative AI use after internal data-leak incidents in 2023. At the time, employees had reportedly entered proprietary source code into consumer AI tools, raising alarms about trade secrets, confidential engineering work, and unreleased product details.
Now, three years later, Samsung is moving from restriction to controlled adoption.
From Ban to Approved AI Tools
Samsung’s earlier ban reflected a wider corporate fear around generative AI: employees wanted to use the tools, but companies did not yet have strong governance around privacy, retention, training data, and access controls.
The new rollout shows how that position has changed. Instead of treating AI tools as unauthorized workplace shortcuts, Samsung is bringing them into its official technology stack with enterprise controls, training requirements, and internal governance.
Before approving the wider deployment, the Device eXperience division ran a two-month pilot from April to May 2026. Around 2,500 employees tested major AI assistants side by side, helping Samsung evaluate performance, usefulness, and security implications.
One result of that pilot is a stricter access model. Employees must complete internal security training before they can use the approved tools. That requirement is directly tied to the concerns that triggered Samsung’s original ban.
Why ChatGPT Enterprise Matters
The enterprise version of ChatGPT is central to Samsung’s decision because it is designed for workplace use rather than casual consumer access. It includes stronger data protection, user management, administrative controls, and security features that allow companies to manage AI adoption inside their own rules.
For Samsung, this means employees can use AI for tasks such as research, summarization, data analysis, document drafting, idea generation, and internal productivity work without relying on public consumer tools.
The company expects workforce training around the rollout to continue through the end of 2026. That timeline suggests Samsung is treating this as a major operational change rather than a quick software rollout.
Codex Expands Beyond Engineers
Codex is also becoming a major part of Samsung’s AI strategy. While it is best known as a coding assistant, Samsung plans to use it across both technical and non-technical teams.
Developers can use Codex to write, review, debug, and improve software. But Samsung also sees value for marketing, product, manufacturing, and operations teams. Employees without coding backgrounds may be able to describe a workflow in plain language and generate an internal tool, automation, website, or process helper.
That makes Codex more than a developer utility. In Samsung’s workplace, it could become a bridge between business teams and software creation, helping employees build small tools without waiting for traditional development cycles.
The larger aim is to make AI useful across research and development, manufacturing, marketing, product planning, and corporate functions. ChatGPT handles broader knowledge work, while Codex supports software and workflow automation.
Samsung’s Multi-Vendor AI Strategy
Samsung is not relying on one AI provider alone. The rollout is part of a wider AI transformation program that includes access to several external generative AI tools. Different divisions are testing and adopting different systems depending on their sensitivity, use cases, and internal requirements.
The Device eXperience division is moving more aggressively, while the semiconductor-focused Device Solutions division remains under tighter restrictions because of the highly confidential nature of chip design and manufacturing.
That multi-vendor approach gives Samsung flexibility, but it also creates governance challenges. The company must manage different data policies, access rules, safety systems, and regional requirements across multiple AI platforms.
A Deeper Partnership
The workplace rollout also strengthens Samsung’s broader relationship with OpenAI. Samsung is already connected to the AI infrastructure market through advanced memory chips and data-center supply chains. That means the company is not only adopting OpenAI software internally, but also positioning itself as part of the hardware ecosystem needed to power large AI systems.
Samsung’s IT-services arm is also expected to play a role in helping other businesses adopt and manage enterprise AI tools, giving OpenAI a stronger path into South Korea’s corporate market.
Why This Matters
Samsung’s decision captures a larger shift in enterprise AI. Large companies are no longer asking whether employees will use AI. They are deciding how to make that use secure, measurable, and officially supported.
The company that once became a warning sign for AI data leakage is now trying to become an example of controlled enterprise adoption. The real test will be whether Samsung can scale access without creating new security incidents.
If the rollout works, Samsung could show how major enterprises can move from AI bans to structured AI adoption. If problems return, the case will also show how hard it remains to balance productivity with protection in the generative AI era.
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