Korea must actively embrace AI to boost productivity

Steve Canepa

South Korea should leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance productivity in a low birth rate environment and achieve a per capita income of $50,000, according to a technology expert.

Steve Canepa, general manager, Global Industries at IBM Corp., emphasized that Korea’s success or failure in entering the ranks of advanced countries depends on how Korean businesses and individuals use AI.

Canepa’s remarks were made during his keynote speech at the MK CES Forum in Las Vegas, the United States, on Tuesday.

He noted that Korea has the lowest birth rate (0.788), stating that the decline in the workforce poses limitations on increasing the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) without enhancing the productivity of businesses and individuals.

His analysis suggests that breaking the cycle of a reduced working-age population, which leads to decreased labor input, growth rate slowdown, reduced investment, and secondary growth rate slowdown, requires urgent improvement in productivity via AI.

Canepa used software engineers as an example, saying that the difference between developers who enhance productivity using AI and those who do not is significant. He also emphasized that Korea, as well as China and Japan, is grappling with low birth rates and that there is no future for countries that do not increase productivity through AI.

Pinpointing AI as the engine of global economic growth, Canepa cited an analysis predicting that AI will contribute to a 7 percent growth in the global GDP over the next decade and that the economy could grow by an average of 0.68 percent annually if AI is properly integrated into business operations.

The expert also proposed a complete shift toward an AI era, saying that AI should not be part of corporate strategy, but it should be the strategy itself.

For its part, Maekyung Media Group has been in a media partnership with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the organizer of Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest electronics and information technology (IT) exhibition, for seven years.