▲ Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI)
As the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly spreads, a recommendation has been made that establishing conditions for AI utilization is urgent to bridge the adoption gap between large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The KCCI Economic Research Institute released a report today (June 10) titled "Large-SME Gap in Generative AI Adoption: The Role of Capability and Organizational Environment," based on a survey of 3,000 workers aged 20 and older nationwide.
According to the report, the simple utilization rate of generative AI among workers stood at 66.5% for large companies and 52.7% for SMEs, showing a gap of 13.8 percentage points between the two groups.
However, when other factors such as company support systems and individual workers' prompt engineering capabilities were included in the analysis, the gap in utilization rates due solely to company size narrowed significantly to around 4 percentage points.
This suggests that even SMEs can utilize AI as effectively as large companies if an appropriate environment is created at the organizational level, the KCCI Economic Research Institute explained.
In fact, when a company actively encourages the use of AI internally, the probability of workers utilizing AI increased by 15.5 percentage points compared to companies that do not.
When companies subsidize subscription fees, the probability of utilization also rose by 8.1 percentage points.
Both large company and SME workers ranked "investing saved time into improving the quality of existing work" as their top priority, at 32.6% and 29.5%, respectively.
However, clear differences emerged starting from the second priority.
While large company workers used the saved time for "performing new projects and tasks" (22.6%), SME workers chose "securing personal time and rest outside of work" (27.3%).
Kim Yong-mi, a research fellow at the KCCI Economic Research Institute, said, "Although further research is needed, this suggests that the short-term gap in AI utilization rates could accumulate into a mid- to long-term productivity gap."
Polarization by industry and region was also distinct.
While the gap in AI utilization between large companies and SMEs in the service sector was 9.2 percentage points, the gap in the manufacturing sector reached 24.2 percentage points.
The utilization rate of SMEs by region also showed that the Seoul metropolitan area (57.3%) significantly outperformed non-metropolitan areas (47.8%), revealing that the manufacturing sector and regional SMEs are in the blind spot of AI utilization.
To bridge this gap, the KCCI Economic Research Institute proposed expanding AI-specialized courses within employment insurance vocational training and promoting tailored programs for blind spots such as non-metropolitan areas and the manufacturing sector.
It also stated that diagnostic consulting and standard roadmaps should be distributed to help SMEs establish systematic adoption strategies, while simplifying support requirements such as AI subscription fees.
It added that performance-linked job redesign and the establishment of incentive systems for sharing internal know-how should be carried out in parallel so that work hours saved through AI can lead to business advancement.
In particular, it emphasized the need for close linkage to ensure that the government's public AI service, the "AI for All Project," which is scheduled to launch in the second half of this year, can provide practical help to SMEs.
Park Yang-su, head of the KCCI Economic Research Institute, said, "The AI gap between large companies and SMEs stems from the organizational environment, such as corporate policies and support, rather than individual attitudes," adding, "It is important to design sophisticated systems that encompass creating adoption conditions for SMEs and strengthening workers' capabilities."
(Photo courtesy of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.