Employees in South Korea fear AI takeover

A significant portion of employees in South Korea aged 20-50 believe that generative AI could replace their jobs in the future.

According to a Software Policy and Research Institute report, 33.6% of respondents see a real possibility of AI replacing them, with 46.3% anticipating this replacement within six to 10 years, and an additional 28.5% foreseeing it occurring within five years.

The report, titled Usage of Generative AI and Perception on its Potential to Replace Human Labour, surveyed 1,038 office employees from the capital region and six metropolitan cities. It found that 39.8% of respondents have used generative AI in the past three months, with frequent users (48.8%) perceiving a higher likelihood of replacement.

One of the most common tasks performed using generative AI is translation and foreign language composition, with 60.6% of respondents citing it as a primary application. Data search (57.1%), summarising and titling (55%), and proofreading and editing (50.5%) are also prevalent tasks conducted with AI assistance. However, creative tasks such as poetry and fiction writing exhibited a lower usage rate at 24.6%.

ChatGPT emerged as the most frequently used generative AI service, with 81.7% of respondents utilising it, followed by Google Bard (26.8%), Naver HyperCLOVA X (24.9%), Microsoft Bing Chat (22.2%), and Windows 11 Copilot (7.5%).

READ MORE: AI threatens over three million jobs in South Korea

Regarding the frequency of use, one in five respondents reported using generative AI every two to three days, while 6% reported daily usage, and 14.7% reported using it bi-daily or tri-daily.

About 29.3% of respondents agreed that using generative AI reduces their workload. Moreover, those who have personally used AI rated its effectiveness higher (32.2%) compared to non-users (27.4%), reported The Korea Times.