“Learning PR from AI”: How Hyundai Card Is Responding to the AX Era

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Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea

Hyundai Card employees read press materials written by a PR office employee and an AI as they participate in a blind test.

“Who wrote it better? Let’s find out” — A bold experiment by the Hyundai Card PR Office

Hyundai Card is emerging as one of South Korea’s most technology-driven financial companies through its aggressive adoption of artificial intelligence across both business operations and corporate communications.

Known for pioneering hyper-personalized financial services using payment data, the company has also gained international recognition by exporting its proprietary AI platform, “UNIVERSE,” to a major Japanese credit card company, signaling its evolution beyond a traditional card issuer into a broader technology enterprise.

Recently, Hyundai Card has expanded its AI initiatives into public relations, offering a notable example of how generative AI can transform corporate communications.

While AI has already become widely used in global PR practices, many companies still lack clear frameworks for integrating the technology into everyday communications work.

Hyundai Card has instead chosen an experimental and hands-on approach, using AI to strengthen both PR planning and content development.

One of the company’s most talked-about initiatives was an internal blind test titled “Human PR Professional vs. AI: Which Would You Choose?” held at the company’s Seoul headquarters.

In the experiment, a former journalist working in Hyundai Card’s PR office and an AI system each created a press release for “the Orange,” a premium card launched earlier this year.

Employees evaluated the two versions without knowing which was written by a human or AI, focusing on factors such as logical structure, clarity, and messaging rather than writing polish alone.

The human writer relied heavily on internal interviews and company sources, while the AI gathered and synthesized external information.

Feedback from employees revealed how closely AI-generated content now resembles professional PR writing.

Some participants found it difficult to distinguish between the two, while others noted that each had distinct strengths.

Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Ted Chung participates in an LLM training session and carries out hands-on exercises with employees.

Ultimately, the human PR professional won the first round, but the exercise highlighted AI’s growing capabilities and its potential as a collaborative tool rather than a replacement for communications professionals.

The initiative also allowed Hyundai Card’s PR team to experiment with AI-assisted editing, prompt engineering, and content optimization methods tailored specifically to PR work.

The company now plans to expand AI usage into overseas PR materials, video scripting, and broader communications tasks.

This effort is part of Hyundai Card’s larger AX (AI Transformation) strategy, which aims to integrate AI deeply across the organization.

To accelerate adoption, the company recently conducted large language model (LLM) training programs for approximately 260 senior leaders and hundreds of employees.

Unlike traditional executive AI seminars focused mainly on theory, Hyundai Card designed the training around practical, task-oriented exercises tied directly to employees’ daily responsibilities.

Participants used AI tools to summarize reports, generate presentation materials, automate workflows, build web applications through vibe coding, and analyse business scenarios such as risk forecasting and performance prediction.

Even Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Ted Chung personally participated in the training, emphasizing the importance of leadership understanding AI fundamentals to guide company-wide transformation.

Having already applied AI extensively in marketing, underwriting, and fraud prevention, Hyundai Card is now extending AI adoption into PR, design, legal, and human resources.

As the financial sector closely watches the company’s rapid transformation, Hyundai Card continues positioning itself not just as a financial institution, but as a technology company capable of redefining how AI reshapes modern business operations.