Over half of South Korea’s workforce now uses GenAI
- Josephine Tan
- Topics: Digital Transformation, Home Page - News, News, South Korea, US
More than half of South Korea’s workforce is using generative AI (GenAI) at work, roughly twice the rate seen in the US, according to a new survey published by the Bank of Korea.
Conducted by the bank’s Employment Research Team with 5,512 employees in May and June, the survey found that 63.5% of employees have tried GenAI, while 51.8% use it specifically for work. By comparison, a late-2024 working paper from the US National Bureau of Economic Research reported only 26.5% of employees in the US using AI on the job.
The speed and intensity of adoption in South Korea is notable. Three years after commercial internet became available in the 1990s, only 7.8% of South Koreans were online. GenAI, by contrast, crossed the 60% mark before its third year. Employees who use AI spend five to seven hours a week on it—12 to 17% of a standard workweek—compared to just 1 to 5% in the US. Nearly four in five users in South Korea spend at least an hour a day with AI, more than double the US figures of 31.8%. ChatGPT dominates the market, relied on by 67.8% of users in South Korea, far ahead of Google’s Gemini at 19.5%.
READ MORE: AI in HR: Transforming hiring, skill mapping, L&D, and ROI
GenAI is already affecting work patterns. Employees in South Korea report an average weekly reduction of 1.5 hours, or 3.8%, slightly below the 5.4% reported in the US. Researchers estimate that if saved time were applied to productive work, AI could have added about one percentage point to South Korea’s GDP growth since late 2022, when total growth was 3.9%. Newer employees see the largest gains, narrowing performance gaps between novices and veterans. However, around half of users reported no change in hours, and 3.2% said their hours increased due to reviewing AI output.
Despite uncertainties, optimism prevails. Nearly half of respondents believe AI will positively impact society, while 17.5% expect harm. Many are preparing for disruption: about a third plan to pursue further education, a similar share considers changing jobs, and 32.3% would contribute to a national AI development fund that could raise an estimated 38 trillion won (US$27.3 billion) over five years, reported The Korea Herald.
