President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a meeting with senior aides at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday that workers must adapt swiftly to the era of artificial intelligence (AI), in an apparent message to Hyundai Motor's labor union, which has strongly opposed the carmaker's planned introduction of humanoid robots at production facilities.
"A labor union appears to have announced that it will stop robots from entering production sites. That may be part of its overall protest strategy," Lee said during a meeting with senior aides at Cheong Wa Dae.
"But once the massive wagon starts rolling, we cannot stop it," Lee said, likening the current situation to the past, when the introduction of steam engines triggered machine-breaking protests by laborers worried about losing jobs.
Lee added: "Ultimately, society has to adapt quickly. People need to learn new skills and adjust rapidly to the new environment."
The president stressed the importance of preparing workers for technological change rather than resisting it, as AI-driven automation accelerates across industries. He also underscored the need for fundamental policies to prepare for extreme polarization in an AI-driven economy.
While Lee did not name a specific labor group, his comments were widely interpreted as directed at Hyundai Motor's labor union, which recently lashed out at the carmaker's plans to deploy humanoid robots at production sites.
In a statement released earlier in the day, the union said management is seeking to materialize a so-called "dream factory" that operates 24 hours a day using only AI-powered robots.
"There is no place for humans anywhere in the plan," the union said, expressing concerns that robots would ultimately take over all jobs.
The union added that Hyundai Motor Group discussed the unmanned factory initiative, dubbed the "DF247" project, as a key priority at its annual Global Leaders Forum earlier this month. The project envisions fully automated facilities operating around the clock.
The union warned that such developments would eventually affect all workers in Korea, arguing that the balance between consumption and supply would be disrupted, creating a vicious cycle in the nation's economy.
The union statement came about a week after the workers voiced strong opposition to the carmaker's plan to deploy Atlas robots made by Boston Dynamics, its U.S. robotics unit, across major assembly lines in Korea and overseas.
Hyundai Motor has identified the Atlas robot as a key future growth engine in the emerging era of physical AI.
The company unveiled its vision at the CES 2026 tech fair earlier this month, outlining plans to mass-produce up to 30,000 humanoid robots by 2028 and gradually deploy them at its manufacturing sites, including Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia.