World Domination through Planet Development - Chapter 28
Only Noblemtl
Episode 28. Public Opinion War
Gyeongseong Daily.
This media company, which boasts a 100-year history, was founded during the period when the nation of Joseon, which existed on this land, was forcibly occupied by Japan.
This media company, which was different from the beginning, survived after liberation by maintaining a critical attitude toward weak governments and a bowing attitude whenever it felt like it was about to be beaten up, even just a little.
The principle of opportunistic attitude was so important that even the regime that came down from the North with troops was no exception, so I could only admire its tenacity.
And that business principle has continued to this day, so it seems that it will not change in the future unless the surname of the owner family of Gyeongseong Ilbo changes.
The office of the CEO of Gyeongseong Ilbo.
President Woo of Gyeongseong Ilbo, who had stood firm for a long time, sat there pretending to look uncomfortable.
Because I received a personal request from Chairman Jang of Daehyun Group.
widely!
President Woo roughly put down the phone he was holding.
“That little brat is now ordering me to do such trivial things?”
President Woo was well into his seventies.
Could it be that I have dementia?
In fact, this isn’t the first or second time something like this has happened.
But unfortunately, the petty rebellion he could commit ended here.
As he had done until now, he was in a position where he had no choice but to silently deal with Chairman Jang’s demands.
President Woo thought deeply and then picked up the key phone.
“Connect me to Representative Woo.”
Representative Woo, as you can tell from his surname, was his family’s son.
He was currently serving concurrently as the Vice President of Gyeongseong Ilbo and the CEO of Gyeongseong Biz.
-Okay, Chairman.
The secretary who received his call answered.
After a while, the bell rang a few times and Woo Jun-ho’s voice was heard.
-Yes, Mr. Chairman.
A son who calls him “Chairman” in public settings.
“Oh, yeah. Do you happen to know Cheon Jeong-woo?”
-well.
Even though he was asked a question out of the blue, Woo Jun-ho answered right away, not seeming flustered.
“I thought it was artificial intelligence.”
-Ah, yes, I know.
He answered, as if he only then remembered the word artificial intelligence.
“That guy named Cheon Jeong-woo. I guess he’s not meant to be with our company.”
-…All right.
Woo Jun-ho immediately understood and answered, catching something from his father’s nervous voice.
“Okay. I’ll hang up now.”
* * *
CEO Woo Jun-ho hung up the phone, thought about his father’s words for a moment, and then picked up the phone again.
And then he makes a phone call to somewhere.
The phone connected within.
“Editor-in-chief, let me see you for a moment.”
Not long after Woo Jun-ho hung up the phone, the editor-in-chief came up to the office.
“Did you call, sir?”
“Yes, come here and sit down.”
The editor-in-chief’s face was already filled with worry about what he would say next.
The editor-in-chief sat down on the reception sofa.
“Do you have any contact with our CEO, Cheon Jeong-woo?”
The editor-in-chief tilted his head at CEO Woo’s sudden question.
“Oh! Are you talking about that PDC representative?”
“yes.”
The editor-in-chief thought for a moment and then answered.
“The IT department is probably in the process of requesting an interview, but since they are so closed off, not only us, but probably other media outlets as well, don’t have much contact with them yet.”
Representative Woo nodded his head.
“That’s good. Please withdraw everything you were planning and maintain a critical tone regarding the PDC from now on.”
Despite the sudden request from the representative, the editor-in-chief’s expression was calm.
He too has experienced this more than once or twice.
“There is already a lot of concern that PDC’s artificial intelligence will reduce jobs.”
Woo Jun-ho’s eyes sparkled at the editor-in-chief’s words.
“That’s good. AI is threatening human jobs. Let’s take a turn in that direction.”
“All right.”
* * *
The editor-in-chief came out of the CEO’s office.
“… Phew.”
He sighs, thinks for a moment, then picks up his smartphone.
It looks like he’s undecided about who to contact.
But he put it back in and walked away.
The editor-in-chief soon got on the elevator and headed down to where the IT department was.
“Hello, Director.”
“Oh, yeah.”
He looked around, receiving greetings from all over the place.
But the person he is looking for is not where he expected.
I continued walking, accepting greetings from the employees I encountered.
And then he stopped walking in a conference room.
The head of the IT department he was looking for appeared.
I guess there was a monthly department meeting going on at the time.
As he was staring into the conference room where the blinds were not drawn, the manager who was conducting the meeting noticed him.
A quick-witted employee soon caught him and opened the conference room door.
“Hello, Director!”
Greetings from the temple.
The head of the IT department followed suit.
“Oh my, Director. What’s wrong?”
“No, well. Don’t you think you should check out the company atmosphere once in a while? Wouldn’t it be okay to take a look?”
“sure.”
Even though it wasn’t really okay, the manager answered with a sad expression.
As the director entered the conference room, everyone stood up from their seats.
“Ah, it’s okay. Sit down. Sit down. Make yourself comfortable.”
As everyone was hesitating and trying to resume the meeting, the director glanced around and picked up one of the meeting documents.
It just so happened that it contained the things he needed to mention.
Not only that, it was on the main page.
It’s a topic that’s been on the rise recently, so it couldn’t be left out.
“How is this AI company doing?”
“Ah… We did request cooperation, but we haven’t received a clear response yet, so for now, we are finalizing the ledger by focusing on user-focused opinions and difficulties.”
The director’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Hasn’t it been a while since I asked for your cooperation on this?”
“Oh, yeah… that’s a bit…”
He told me to take it easy, but did he come down to enforce discipline or was there something he needed to be punished for?
A thousand thoughts ran through the manager’s head.
“At this point, aren’t they ignoring us?”
“Huh?”
The editor-in-chief was surprised by the editor-in-chief’s extremely forced response.
Tsk tsk.
The director said, clicking his tongue.
“It’s not that hard to do a little bit of reporting, and wouldn’t it be nice to have your name in the article? Why are you being so strict? Isn’t that why your salary has gone up?”
“That… that’s right.”
“And these days, there’s a lot of talk about jobs being lost because of this.”
Why did you suddenly come down and mention the PDC in such a negative way?
The editor-in-chief intuitively knew what the editor-in-chief wanted.
This kind of thing happens often at Gyeongseong Ilbo, so even the average employee is aware of it.
“Because other media outlets were saying it was so good, the existing direction was not differentiated.”
“Oh, right. We’re not writing articles to please them. But it doesn’t mean they’re going to help us. It might be more noticeable if we just change direction completely.”
“That would definitely be better.”
The manager agreed with the editor-in-chief’s words.
Ahem.
The editor-in-chief nodded.
“No, I’m just giving advice… You guys write the articles. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Okay, then get to work.”
The editor-in-chief soon left the conference room.
Phew… .
A sigh escaped the manager’s mouth.
* * *
-Stop AI development!!
-Stop it!! Stop it!!
-AI, get out, it threatens citizens’ jobs!!
-Get back!! Get back!!
A group of people were chanting slogans in front of the PDC’s new headquarters.
It is a civic group that received support from Daehyun.
Of course, they themselves don’t think that way at all.
Even though protesters are currently gathering in front of the new building, public opinion has been negative about the development of AI ever since AI began to succeed, but this time it was different.
Looking at public opinion alone, whether online or offline, the AI industry is on the verge of death.
However, contrary to public opinion, PDC’s sales figures were rising very smoothly.
“Hmm… well, you can do that now.”
Jungwoo said this while looking at the scene from the spacious terrace.
As I was slowly savoring the coffee in my paper cup, someone approached me from behind.
Now, it was Yoon Jeong-jik who had been promoted to vice president at lightning speed.
“I asked the lawyer, and he said that since it was a legally reported protest, there is no practical way to restrict it. However, he said that legal action is possible based on the distortion of facts and defamation of character based on the illegal banner and insulting content. Do you want to proceed like that?”
It seems that he has been receiving legal advice from attorney Byun Ki-hoe.
But Jeong-woo shook his head.
“Um… no. Just leave it alone.”
“Then… how about looking for another law firm?”
When Jungwoo’s response was lukewarm, Vice President Yoon asked with a worried expression.
“No. I will definitely resolve legal issues only through Attorney Byun. Once we have established a relationship of trust, shouldn’t we see it through to the end?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“If you are short on money, please feel free to support me.”
“All right.”
Just as Vice President Yoon was about to bow his head and turn away, Jeong-woo spoke again.
“Oh! Not too much.”
“…yes.”
[Currently, public opinion is forming on social media to boycott me.]
As soon as Vice President Yoon left, Sarah spoke next.
“About me? The expression is a bit strange… Well, you are the AI Sara itself. Anyway, isn’t it true that Daehyun intervened in the formation of public opinion?”
[That’s right. It’s being spread intentionally by a company that received funding from Daehyun, and most of the people who agree with it are not actually using AI.]
“Are there any dropouts among the paid subscribers?”
[It is currently maintaining a state that is not much different from normal times.]
Originally, it was inevitable that there would be some people who would leave.
The fact that it is no different from normal times probably means that it did not have a big impact on actual users.
“Hmm, but I still feel a little bad.”
To be honest, I should say it was a bit surprising.
Can the chairman of a large corporation be this incompetent?
I vaguely thought it was something that would only happen in movies or dramas.
Well, considering what he did to my family, it’s not that surprising.
That doesn’t mean I have any intention of harming Chairman Jang right away.
If you put your mind to it, assassination is possible.
There’s plenty of time anyway.
Killing them would be too lenient on them.
It will slowly snatch what you are holding in your hand.
Still, we need to solve the problem right in front of us to some extent first… .
I guess I was a little too complacent.
If you think about it, the public opinion manipulation that Gyeongseong Ilbo started right away was probably influenced by the fact that I declined all interview requests from media outlets.
If you think about what we will have to sell in the future, not just AI, public opinion is quite important.
Since these are all enormous issues, it is essential to establish a legal system, but if public opinion is not good, it will be difficult to pass the bill.
Hmm… I guess I’ll have to create an organization to incite public opinion later.
“I think I should grab one and interview him….”
[There is one suitable place.]