AI adoption and public awareness

Nvidia, supplying over 80 percent of the world's artificial intelligence (AI) chips, became the third listed company joining the $3 trillion club. Apple and Microsoft are the only two that reached the $3 trillion mark before Nvidia. According to the Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024, the number of granted AI patents has increased more than 31 times since 2010. AI decreases costs and improves efficiency. AI helps workers be more productive. Everyone is talking about AI and its potential impact on our lives.

Even my hairdresser recently told me that AI is changing our lives for better or for worse. She feared the rapid penetration of AI, saying that the ensuing job automation will soon make her jobless. I explained to her that experts think that hairdressers will be one of the professions that are hard to automate. But she showed her deep-seated doubts.

Apparently, she is joined by many influenced by a myriad of media reports highlighting or even exaggerating the benefits and downsides of AI. A little too much business hype around AI is generating ungrounded fears or wrongly guided beliefs in AI. People do not distinguish between generative AI and artificial general intelligence (AGI). It is pumping job loss fears into people's minds. It is in stark contrast to many AI experts who think AGI will take much time, if it can happen at all. Nonetheless, big tech bosses' popularity has convinced many people to believe in an AI utopia — or an AI dystopia.

While the 2021 Global AI Vibrancy Tool ranked Korea No. 6 for AI readiness, my conversation with the hairdresser calls for more government and corporate engagement with the public to reduce public fear and raise public awareness of AI. According to a survey result released by Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT, more than half of the public views the impact of AI services on society and individuals positively, and those with service experience have a higher positive perception (68 percent) than those without experience (55.8 percent). Therefore, public sentiment about AI is going to be an important factor in determining the velocity and magnitude of the adoption of AI.

Governments and corporations should provide the public with ample information on the benefits of adopting AI, which helps increase productivity, efficiency and innovation. A Ministry of Science and ICT and Bain and Company joint report estimated that successful implementation of AI across the Korean economy could, as of 2026, generate an annual economic impact of $225 billion, equivalent to 1.8 percent of GDP.

Some jobs will certainly be disrupted by automation. A 2023 OECD report forecast that 27 percent of jobs are in occupations at high risk of automation because of AI. But a research study by Evercore and Visionary Future concluded that service jobs such as legal and financial are likely to be disrupted, but full job replacement is unlikely. A McKinsey Global Institute report estimated that generative AI could enhance annual labor productivity by 0.1 to 0.6 percent through 2040. History also shows that occupational displacement rates have gone down since the First Industrial Revolution, with 30 percent from 1850 to 1870, 22 percent in the 1970s and less than 5 percent from 2010 to 2015.

Besides, with the adoption and advancement of AI, Korea is in need of 8,000 more skilled workers for its AI labor market. Shortage of skilled workers is a prevalent problem in digital technologies across the world, including semiconductors, bioscience and AI. We will soon see a global talent war to poach skilled workers from one corporation to another and from one country to another. This question leads us to the need for more investment in adequate education and training, skilling and upskilling of workers and preparing workers with new skills and better employability to retain skilled workers and give workers better opportunities. Job transfer programs for older workers, women and less skilled workers should also be prepared in parallel. More attention to and investment in STEM education programs for young women and men will have a direct relevance and impact on the nation's competitiveness.

AI's benefits will be enjoyed with full knowledge of its better use, not just at work but at home for personal use. Your ability to use AI better often correlates with the benefits you can draw from the use of AI, not being fooled by AI's hallucinations. So one should be a good prompt engineer to be able to benefit more from the use of AI. A good prompt engineer is knowledgeable about the subjects from education and sufficient reading. In this connection, schools should be aimed at helping students learn how to think better, read more and write better.

As already experienced with the advent of the internet, those who can use AI will be at the forefront of the AI age.

Dr. Song Kyung-jin (kj_song@hotmail.com) led the Institute for Global Economics, based in Seoul, and served as special adviser to the chairman of the Presidential Committee for the Seoul G20 Summit in the Office of the President. Presently, she is executive director of the Innovative Economy Forum.