1 in 3 Korean office workers believe AI might replace them in 10 years

OpenAI’s ChatGPT app is displayed on an iPhone in New York in this file photo. AP-Yonhap

By KTimes

A significant portion of Korean office workers aged 20 to 50 believe that generative artificial intelligence (AI) might replace their jobs in the future.

According to a report by the Software Policy & Research Institute titled “Usage of Generative AI and Perception on its Potential to Replace Human Labor,” 39.8 percent of respondents have used generative AI in the past three months.

The survey, conducted from Dec. 4 to 8 last year, included 1,038 office workers from the capital region and six metropolitan cities, reflecting significant societal changes since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022.

It showed that 33.6 percent of respondents see a real possibility of AI replacing them, with the most anticipating the timeframe for such a replacement being within six to 10 years at 46.3 percent, and 28.5 percent expecting it could happen within five years.

Specifically, 48.8 percent of current generative AI users in their jobs believe AI could replace them.

“Considering the rapid development of generative AI, respondents recognize the potential for their roles to be substituted by AI in the workplace, with frequent users utilizing it in their jobs, perceiving a higher likelihood of replacement.”

Translation is the most common task

The survey revealed that one in five respondents who have used generative AI do so every two or three days, with daily usage at 6 percent and bidaily or tridaily usage at 14.7 percent.

ChatGPT was the most frequently used service at 81.7 percent, followed by Google Bard at 26.8 percent, Naver HyperCLOVA X at 24.9 percent, Microsoft Bing Chat at 22.2 percent and Windows 11 Copilot at 7.5 percent.

The most common tasks performed with generative AI included translation and foreign language composition (60.6 percent, multiple responses allowed), data search (57.1 percent), summarizing and titling (55 percent), and proofreading and editing (50.5 percent). Creative tasks like poetry and fiction writing had the lowest usage rate at 24.6 percent.

About 29.3 percent of respondents agreed that using generative AI reduces their workload, with those who have personally used AI rating its effectiveness higher (32.2 percent) compared to non-users (27.4 percent).

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, sister publication of The Korea Times, was translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.