South Korean Gen Z Workers Lead in AI Adoption, Study Finds

SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent survey has revealed that 8 out of 10 South Korean Generation Z workers (ages 18-27) turn to artificial intelligence (AI) first when facing challenges at work, a rate significantly higher than their counterparts in Western countries.

Samsung Electronics recently released a report examining the perspectives of Gen Z workers on AI and work across five countries: South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

The findings suggest that South Korea could potentially serve as a “test bed” for the integration of AI tools in the workplace. 

According to the report, 80% of South Korean Gen Z workers identified AI as their “first go-to resource” when needing assistance at work.

This figure surpasses those of the U.S. (56%), U.K. (59%), Germany (61%), and France (55%) by 19 to 25 percentage points. 

The enthusiasm for AI among South Korean young workers extends beyond mere usage, as 80% of respondents believe that AI can improve work methods, compared to 50-60% in the other surveyed countries.

Interestingly, while 75% of South Korean Gen Z workers reported feeling stressed by the abundance of AI applications available – the highest among the five countries – they remained the most optimistic about AI’s impact on the workplace. 

Kim Sang-ho, a director at the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, cautioned that while AI adoption in the workplace is a positive trend, it comes with risks.

“There are concerns about dealing with AI hallucinations and the potential weakening of human collaboration skills,” Kim said. He suggested the need for new guidelines encouraging workers to double-check AI outputs through workplace communication. 

The survey identified Gen Z workers with side jobs as the most open to AI, with 73% of this group across all five countries using AI as a work assistant.

In South Korea, the most popular AI application among “side hustlers” was summarizing long documents or meetings (46% of respondents), followed by generating text and visual content (37%) and researching and finding ideas (36%). 

Samsung Electronics categorized Gen Z workers into three groups based on their AI usage: “AI super users,” “AI experimenters,” and “AI cautious users.”

Super users, who use AI most actively, often have side jobs in AI-heavy fields like content creation or web development.

Experimenters use AI for practical purposes like time-saving, while cautious users still view AI as unfamiliar and tend to choose side jobs unrelated to digital technology. 

The survey, conducted online, included 5,048 participants across the five countries, with 1,021 respondents from South Korea.

M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)