"What Does This Team Do?"... New Roles Emerge with AI Adoption [AI Era, Jobs Are Changing]

Survey of Top 100 Companies on "Organizational Changes After AI Adoption"
Emergence of Company-wide AI Strategy and Planning Teams
Rise of AI Governance and Ethics Management Roles
Parallel Approaches: Integrating AI into Existing Teams

As the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) expands, entirely new roles that did not previously exist are rapidly emerging among major domestic companies. However, not all companies have established separate new positions. Many are incorporating AI by expanding the responsibilities of existing teams within their organizations.

According to “The Asia Business Daily’s Organizational Change Survey After AI Adoption,” which was conducted from December 8 to 19 and targeted HR, strategy, organization, and planning managers at Korea’s top 100 companies, 43 out of 74 companies (58.1%) that responded to the open-ended question about “new roles created after AI adoption” said that new roles or dedicated teams had been established because of AI. This indicates that companies are viewing AI not just as a tool, but as a catalyst for organizational change. In contrast, 31 companies (41.9%) said that there were no new dedicated roles, or that AI-related work had been incorporated into existing positions. This demonstrates that companies are responding to AI adoption in a variety of ways.

AI humanoid robot undergoing on-site demonstration at CJ Logistics Gunpo Fulfillment Center. The Asia Business Daily DB

When categorizing the new roles, the most common type was strategy and planning positions responsible for designing and coordinating company-wide AI utilization. Teams such as “AI Transformation Team,” “DX Promotion Group,” “AI Frontier,” and “AI Solutions Team” analyze each department’s work to identify areas where AI can be applied and design the overall direction for digital transformation across the company. This suggests that companies are moving beyond isolated department-level experiments and are now making a concerted effort to elevate AI utilization to a company-wide strategy. Such responses were especially common in manufacturing and heavy industry sectors, where complex processes and organizational structures have increased the need for dedicated functions to coordinate and integrate AI adoption.

Technical and operational roles that actually run and manage AI systems have also been widely established by companies. These roles are responsible for managing AI platforms, planning and developing AI agents, data analysis and engineering, and advancing in-house AI systems. They were most frequently mentioned in the finance, IT, and platform industries. This reflects a recognition that, beyond the initial phase of adopting AI, there is now a need for permanent teams to design systems that fit actual work processes and to maintain and improve performance. It shows that AI utilization has become an ongoing operational task rather than a one-off project.

Governance and ethics-related positions responsible for managing risks and accountability associated with AI adoption have also emerged in significant numbers. Some companies reported creating new roles such as “AI Governance Officer,” “AI Technology Ethics Officer,” and “AI Risk Management.” As issues like AI output errors, bias, and decision-making accountability have become real management risks, the need for roles that monitor and control these issues-separate from technology development-has begun to take root within organizations. The survey revealed that as AI utilization expands, the importance of management and control is growing just as much as the technology itself.

On the other hand, a considerable number of companies reported that they had not created any new roles. These companies said that AI-related work is being absorbed and carried out by existing IT, planning, or business teams. Rather than creating new job titles or organizations, they are adopting AI by expanding the responsibilities of current staff. Especially in the IT and platform sectors, many responded that “AI has become a basic work tool, not the domain of any specific position.”