[AI Hegemony War Korea's Winning Move] Will the Day Come When We Fall in Love with AI?

The Future of AI Technology... "Will Transform Our Lives in Every Field"
Generative AI to Create $4.4 Trillion Annual Value in the Global Economy

The 2013 film 'Her' tells the story of Theodore, a man working as a ghostwriter, who falls in love with Samantha, an artificial intelligence (AI) operating system. Samantha is an AI that thinks and feels on its own. Interestingly, the film is set in 2025. The imaginative vision from 10 years ago predicted that by 2025, AI capable of emotional interaction with humans would emerge. From today's perspective, it seems unlikely that AI with emotions will appear just two years from now. However, it is well known that the emergence of generative AI like ChatGPT is rapidly changing our future. How will AI technology transform our lives? What will coexistence between AI and humans look like? We explored the future of AI technology.

Consulting firm McKinsey Global Institute recently released a report titled 'The Economic Potential of Generative AI.' While focusing on the impact of generative AI on the global economy, the report also offers insights into the future AI will shape. McKinsey estimates that generative AI could create $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion in annual value for the global economy. This estimate is based on an analysis of 63 use cases. Beyond advanced technology sectors, industries where generative AI's economic impact could be significant include banking, retail and consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and media & entertainment. Changes will occur in areas closely connected to daily life. McKinsey analyzed that if these technologies are actively adopted, banking could add $200 billion to $340 billion annually, retail and consumer goods $400 billion to $660 billion, pharmaceuticals $60 billion to $110 billion, and media & entertainment $60 billion to $110 billion in additional economic value.

A survey conducted by Asia Economy targeting 50 domestic AI technology companies also predicted that AI will transform our lives across various fields. Kim Bohyung, CEO of CNAI, said, "AI will be integrated into almost all services, making AI a part of everyday life. Just as people don't think about 'using the internet' when they use Naver or Google, AI will become so widespread that people won't even realize they are using AI services."

A common change expected across many fields is productivity improvement. As AI takes over many parts of work more precisely, humans can focus on creating added value. In service development, it was often difficult to realize ideas due to costs and time constraints. However, AI enables people to showcase their ideas to the world more easily. An IT company official said, "AI will fundamentally improve work productivity," adding, "At the same time, the productivity gap between individuals is expected to widen." This means that productivity differences will arise depending on whether one can utilize AI. A startup CEO predicted, "People who know how to use AI will gain ten times more profit than those who cannot."

Improved productivity can also change the industrial landscape. Jeon Jaeyoung, CEO of Omnius, said, "AI personal assistants that handle basic tasks such as individual schedule management, shopping, and administration will become common, and in industries, AI will replace a significant portion of average knowledge workers, leading to major changes in work styles and the labor market." There is also a perspective that with the ability to do more work with less effort, how people use their free time will become a key issue. Lee Donggeon, CEO of MyRealTrip, said, "Per capita productivity will be maximized, and the proportion of leisure time is expected to increase further."

Ultimately, in the upcoming AI era, important skills will include the ability to use AI tools, judgment to make final decisions, and creativity to do new and innovative work. The future AI will create in the content domain is a representative example of this. "Anyone will be able to create high-quality content of everything they imagine, increasing the number of creators." AI allows people to work as webtoon artists or painters even without professional training in drawing, as long as they have creativity. The driving force of creation is human creativity, but the means are provided by AI. The same applies to music. A representative from a music-related startup said, "The high professional knowledge barrier required to create music will disappear," adding, "Many people will be able to create and own their own music."