It has been revealed that while 8 out of 10 South Korean companies feel the need to apply AI (artificial intelligence) to their business activities, the actual utilization rate remains at 30%. In particular, the utilization rate in the manufacturing sector barely exceeds 20%. Due to the lack of technology and IT infrastructure and the burden of high costs, there are calls for comprehensive government support to overcome these obstacles.
According to the “AI Technology Utilization Survey” conducted on 500 domestic companies by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Industrial Research Institute on the 28th, 78.4% responded that “AI technology is necessary to improve productivity and reduce costs.” However, only 30.6% of companies responded that they are actually utilizing AI technology, with the remaining 69.4% indicating that they are not using AI.
By industry, the AI utilization rate in the manufacturing sector was the lowest at 23.8%. By company size, small businesses had a utilization rate of 28.7%, medium-sized businesses 30.1%, and large businesses 48.8%, showing a higher utilization rate proportional to the size of the company. Regionally, companies in the capital area had a utilization rate of 40.4%, while non-capital area companies had a rate of 17.9%, indicating a disparity.
Companies utilizing AI technology cited “time reduction (45.8%)” as the most significant effect, followed by cost reduction (22.2%), increased production (11.8%), and increased sales (8.5%). When asked if they plan to further introduce AI, 86.3% of companies already using AI responded affirmatively.
On the other hand, half (49%) of the companies not utilizing AI indicated that they have no plans to introduce it in the future. The biggest reason cited was “lack of technology and IT infrastructure (34.6%),” followed by cost burden (23.1%), lack of necessity (21.9%), doubts about reliability (10.1%), and lack of personnel (6.1%).
The companies participating in the survey identified “investment and R&D support in the AI field (51.4%)” and “building AI infrastructure (25%)” as the most urgent policy issues for active AI utilization and expansion.
A representative from a small business developing and using AI in-house stated, “Recently, AI-related research projects have significantly decreased compared to the past,” and emphasized the need for the government to create various new AI-related projects and establish a research environment where companies can focus on AI development. They also added, “We hope the government will establish shared AI infrastructure that companies can use jointly.”
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