AI could replace 4 million jobs in South Korea

SEOUL – Artificial intelligence (AI) may replace as many as 4 million, or 14% of South Korea’s jobs, over the next two decades, a central bank study said, adding to a chorus of warnings on the looming disruption to labor markets around the world.

Higher-income workers with better academic backgrounds face a greater threat as AI could handle their analytic and cognitive work more easily, said a team led by Oh Sam-il at the Bank of Korea (BOK). Chemists, doctors, lawyers, accountants and asset managers are among the most threatened, while people in religious fields, food services, teaching and singing are the least vulnerable, they said Thursday.

South Korea already has one of the world’s highest adoption rates for robots, as it tries to reduce the fallout from its aging population. Still, the country ranks among countries with lower AI utilisation.

The BOK study…