Sunghee Yun (He/Him)

Co-Founder & CTO @ Erudio Bio, Inc., Leader of Silicon Valley AI Nexus (SVAIN), Advisor @ Korean American Semiconductor Professional Alliance (KASPA), CGO / Global Managing Partner @ LULUMEDIC, KFAS-Salzburg Global Leadership Initiative Fellow @ Salzburg Global Seminar, AI-Korean Medicine Integration Initiative Task Force Member @ The Association of Korean Medicine, Director of AI Semiconductor @ K-BioX, Visiting Professor @ Sogang University, Advisory Professor @ DGIST, Global Advisory Board Member @ Innovative Future Brain-Inspired Intelligence System Semiconductor of Sogang University, Network Expert @ Gerson Lehrman Group, and Chief Business Development Officer @ WeStory.ai

Abstract

We are living through what may be the most consequential inflection point in the history of human technology. In just over a decade, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has traversed an extraordinary arc — from the Deep Learning (DL) revolution catalyzed by big data and GPU computing, through the Transformer architecture that redefined what neural networks (NNs) could do, to the explosive emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI, and now to the dawn of Agentic Intelligence, where AI systems no longer merely respond but autonomously plan, reason, and act. What previously took decades now compresses into months! This talk begins by mapping the full landscape of where we are – the technical foundations beneath today’s breakthroughs, the semiconductor and infrastructure realities that make them possible, the industries already being reshaped, and the staggering market dynamics — measured in trillions of dollars — that are drawing capital, talent, and geopolitical attention at unprecedented intensity.

But technological capability is only one of three forces now colliding with extraordinary force. The second is economic transformation – labor markets, business models, and entire industries are being restructured in ways that even the Industrial Revolution did not match in speed or scope. The third — and the one most underestimated by technologists — is the cluster of profound human questions that agentic AI raises – about meaning, agency, responsibility, truth, work, and what it means to be human in an age of artificial minds. These questions cannot be answered by algorithms or benchmarks. They demand the serious engagement of philosophers, social scientists, ethicists, and humanists working alongside engineers and entrepreneurs. To pretend otherwise — to treat AI as a purely technical project — is not only intellectually dishonest but practically dangerous. A central thesis of this talk is that the humanities and social sciences are not optional companions to AI development; they are essential infrastructure for navigating what comes next.

For the engineering students in this room, this collision is not an abstract concern — it is the defining context of your professional lives. The careers you build, the companies you join or found, and the technologies you create will unfold inside this turbulent intersection. Drawing on insights from Silicon Valley’s frontier, from building AI systems at Amazon and founding AI-biotech and industrial AI ventures, and from leading the Silicon Valley AI Nexus (K-PAI Nexus), this talk offers a holistic compass – how to develop deep technical mastery that remains valuable as the frontier moves, how to read markets and identify where genuine opportunity lies versus mere hype, how to cultivate the cross-disciplinary fluency that distinguishes leaders from operators, and why a moral and philosophical foundation will increasingly separate engineers who shape the future from those who are merely shaped by it. The Age of Agentic Intelligence will reward those who think — and act — across boundaries.