KIAF Holds the 53rd Industrial Development Forum
"Proactive Response Over Observation... Strong Leadership is Key"
It has been diagnosed that South Korea is lagging behind major countries such as the United States and China in securing artificial intelligence (AI) technology and talent. There is a growing call for companies to focus on proactive responses rather than merely observing generative AI business. It is urged that stronger policy support at the national level is needed, such as mandating the use of generative AI in the public sector, surpassing past informatization efforts.
The Korea Industrial Federation announced that on the morning of the 27th, it held the 53rd Industrial Development Forum under the theme "Generative AI Strategy in Industry" at the Automobile Hall in Seocho-gu, Seoul, together with the Korea Software Technology Association, Korea Generative AI Research Institute, and Global Industrial Competitiveness Forum.
It was pointed out that South Korea is comprehensively falling behind major countries such as the United States and China in AI technology and talent. Jeong Manki, chairman of the Industrial Federation, said, "When the AI technology level in the United States is set to 100 in 2022, China is at 92.5%, Europe at 92.4%, and South Korea at 88.9%. In terms of AI experts, the number of supercomputers, data acquisition and quality, and graphics processing unit (GPU) chips, South Korea is very disadvantaged compared to competing countries and also lags in the use of generative AI such as ChatGPT."
According to the Industrial Federation, the AI workforce in the top 30 countries is about 478,000. South Korea's workforce is about 2,500, ranking 22nd in the world. While U.S. companies employ about 10,000 AI personnel, South Korea struggles to secure even a few hundred. Among the world's 'Top 500' supercomputers, South Korea owns 8 units, fewer than China’s 162, the U.S.’s 127, Germany’s 34, Japan’s 31, and France’s 24. The Industrial Federation reported that 72% of domestic IT decision-makers believe South Korea's IT infrastructure falls short of AI requirements. More than 70% of domestic AI companies reportedly face difficulties due to data acquisition and quality issues.
Chairman Jeong stated, "To realize a strong AI nation, it is necessary to exert stronger national-level efforts beyond past informatization initiatives. Through strong AI utilization efforts such as mandating generative AI use in the public sector, we need to foster an industrial ecosystem from the demand side while enhancing AI production competitiveness in software (SW) and hardware (HW)."
No Gyuseong, director of the Korea Generative AI Research Institute, predicted in his keynote speech that the global generative AI market will grow from $10.1 billion (approximately 14 trillion KRW) in 2022 to $109.3 billion (approximately 152 trillion KRW) by 2030. He said that depending on the level of AI integration by industry, it is expected to generate economic growth effects of $3.5 trillion to $5.8 trillion annually (approximately 4,870 trillion to 8,070 trillion KRW). The impact of generative AI on industry-specific work activities is expected to be about 5.2% to 10.1% of total work. Director No said, "Generative AI will change search patterns from search engines to response engines and trigger overall work innovation."
Professor Jang Jeongju of Seoul National University’s College of Business urged companies to actively lead change rather than benchmarking successful generative AI cases. Professor Jang said, "The generative AI syndrome triggered by ChatGPT will soon cause rapid changes in industries and core corporate tasks. Companies that recognize the significant meaning of this change and move first will gain considerable advantages." He added, "Rather than waiting for successful generative AI use cases by competing or new innovative companies, companies themselves should proactively take the initiative."
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