The artificial intelligence revolution is shaking up the industrial labor structure paradigm. Amid the predicted disappearance of mid-skilled workers and experts, a forum was set up to discuss new positioning in accordance with the reorganization of the future labor market and the training of specialized personnel to lead AI technology.

The 3rd Industrial Policy Forum hosted by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET) was held on the 16th at the Yangjae L Tower in Seoul.

This forum, held under the theme of 'AI Revolution: Redesigning the Future of Talent Acquisition and Jobs', provided an opportunity to discuss the labor replacement aspects that AI technology will bring and the resulting required capabilities, as well as the tasks that future industrial manpower policies must address.

△A comprehensive discussion was held with the participation of Research Fellow Gil Eun-seon of the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade on the singularity of AI technology and the need for incentive strategies for key talents, and Associate Research Fellow Min Sun-hong on the future of jobs in the AI era and industrial manpower policy tasks, as well as the Korea Information Society Development Institute, IGA Works, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the Korea Development Institute.

Joo Hyun, the president of the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade, said, “As artificial intelligence has developed rapidly recently and is having a huge impact on society and the economy, this is a place to discuss countermeasures as the way we learn, teach, and interact with each other is changing.”

“The change in job structure presents a new opportunity, but at the same time, we face the serious task of resolving the social and economic challenges that come with the disappearance of existing jobs,” said Director Joo, emphasizing the need to create a space to find solutions.

Min Byeong-ju, president of the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, said, “As major countries are devoting their utmost efforts to preemptive AI, each country is seeking various means to attract excellent talent to develop AI research and related products and services.” He added, “We must not miss the golden time either, and we must discuss ways to foster key talents that are suitable for changes in jobs in the AI era.” He gave a congratulatory speech, saying, “I hope this will be a meaningful time.”

■ “AI Future, Mid-level Expert Market Hit” Expected

“It is recently predicted that occupations such as artistic occupations such as painters and composers, literary and language experts such as writers and editors, legal experts such as lawyers, accountants, and creative technical supervisors such as chefs and video producers, will be replaced by artificial intelligence and generative AI.”

In the past, jobs that were less likely to be replaced by computers were predicted to be those requiring creativity and advanced intelligence. However, there are now concerns that generative AI could replace creative and specialized jobs.

Research Fellow Gil Seon-seon, while presenting on the singularity of AI technology and the need for incentive strategies for key talents, predicted that AI technology would cause polarization within the same industry rather than polarization in the labor market.

The lower market is expected to see consumers directly solving their own service and demand through AI technology, and the expansion of the realm of general consumers and non-experts is expected to be prominent. On the other hand, the high-end expert market is expected to grow into franchise and superstar-type companies that mass-produce inexpensive yet high-quality services based on improved productivity through AI.

These polar market changes are likely to undermine the position of specialists in the mid-market. Polarization in the labor market can occur within the same industry due to an increase in supply competition, improved price competitiveness in the upper market, and superior brand recognition.

Accordingly, Research Fellow Gil Seon-seon suggested that it is necessary to consider measures such as ▲ seeking to open up new markets through early incorporation of new technologies, ▲ labor mobility and retraining policies that induce changes in occupations and industries, etc. In addition, it is necessary to resolve the phenomenon of core SW talents with AI technology convergence development capabilities flocking to the gaming and virtual currency sectors, and thus it is time to consider a government-led incentive strategy for core talents in industrial sectors that drive the development of AI technology.

■ AI, replacing 1.93 million professional jobs... Increase in hiring of high-level personnel during introduction period

It is predicted that among the 3.27 million jobs that can be replaced by artificial intelligence, 1.93 million professional jobs are at risk of disappearing.

In his presentation, Deputy Researcher Min Sun-hong predicted that 1.93 million professional positions, including 1.13 million engineering professionals and 550,000 information and communication professionals, could be replaced by AI. He explained that as of 2022, the domestic AI adoption rate was high in the following order: 13.5% in the information and communication industry, 9% in the finance industry, and 7.2% in business support services, while the adoption rate was found to be low in other industries.

As of 2022, the domestic AI adoption rate is at an average of 4%, and even then, it is mainly adopted by large companies with more than 1,000 employees and sales of more than 10 trillion won. The trend is that AI is still having a greater effect in driving an increase in the number of highly skilled workers with master's and doctoral degrees in the introduction stage rather than having a substitution effect in the labor market.

Min Bu-yeon, a researcher at the research institute, mentioned that the current maturity of domestic AI technology is in the initial prototype stage, with companies increasing their hiring of AI R&D personnel and 75% of companies utilizing AI having developed their own technology.

He added, “The U.S. is driving investment in the private sector to the extent that it surpasses all of the world’s AI investment combined,” and suggested ways to supplement and improve AI human resource development policies, such as △ reorganizing policies to foster highly skilled professionals, △ reviewing support measures for attracting overseas talent, and △ strengthening national competitiveness by activating private investment and human resource development.