Over the past two years, the buzzword around AI (Artificial Intelligence) in Korea's business community has been clearly "investment." From the AI Semiconductor race centered on Nvidia to building AI data centers, launching Generative AI services, and introducing AI agents, major corporations have rushed to unveil AI investment plans.
Samsung Electronics(005930) and SK hynix(000660), SK Telecom(017670), NAVER(035420), and even the financial sector are accelerating the investment race by positioning AI as a core pillar of their future growth strategies.
But market attention is shifting. What investors now ask is not "how much was invested" but "when will it make money." Rather than the scale of AI spending, the timing of returns, the ability to monetize, and whether it can translate into corporate value are becoming the new yardsticks.
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) points to the chief financial officer (CFO) as the role set to change the most amid this shift. In the AI era, the CFO no longer stays confined to managing financial performance. The CFO must become the "architect of AI value," deciding AI investment priorities, validating returns, and judging whether AI is actually translating into corporate value.
◇ Why the CFO's role changes in the AI era
Traditionally, the CFO's core roles were control, reporting, and budget management. The most important task was maintaining financial soundness and delivering reliable results to the market and investors. But in the AI era, the role changes. As AI investment surges, the CFO must decide which projects to fund, which businesses are creating real value, and where to stop investing.
That is because AI is shifting from a technology project to a capital allocation issue. AI is no longer an IT department budget item but directly tied to the corporation's overall investment strategy. The CFO will be positioned to manage the AI investment portfolio and explain how AI affects the company's growth, profitability, and valuation.
◇ From making the numbers to forecasting the future
BCG cites the biggest change in an "AI-first finance" organization as the transformation of the finance function itself. Traditional finance teams spent most of their time compiling figures and drafting reports. But as AI automates repetitive finance tasks, the CFO and finance team will shift from people who make the numbers to people who interpret what those numbers mean for the future.
AI enables real-time forecasting, scenario analysis, and early warnings. With this, the CFO will not explain results after quarterly earnings are released but will identify risk factors and present responses before the results come out.
BCG calls this a "no surprises finance" function. The focus is not on explaining results but on predicting them. By analyzing operating data in real time through AI—sales activity, pricing policies, customer behavior, and cost structures—the finance team can anticipate where performance is headed. To do this, the CFO must build the corporation's real-time financial heads-up display (HUD). Based on AI-driven forecasts, the CEO and the board can make decisions faster.
◇ Three mandates CEOs should assign to CFOs in the AI era
BCG proposes that the chief executive officer (CEO) assign three new roles to the CFO in the AI era. First, design AI value-creation scenarios. The CFO should show where AI can create corporate value over the next five years. Second, manage the AI investment portfolio. Treat AI investments like an asset portfolio and allocate capital to areas where it can create the most value.
Third, build a real-time financial command center. Use AI to detect risks and opportunities early and help management respond faster. Many corporations are still enjoying a "grace period" from the market's expectations for AI investment. But that period is unlikely to last long. Investors will soon evaluate not how much was invested in AI, but how much profit, cash flow, and corporate value those investments have created.
Recently, domestic corporations have been actively building AI data centers, securing graphics processing units (GPUs), and expanding AI organizations, but the market is already asking the next questions. When will AI be reflected in earnings, and how much can AI raise the company's valuation? In finance, telecom, platforms, and manufacturing in particular, the new competitive edge is not the AI investment itself but how much AI has actually improved business performance.
The CFO's role in the AI era no longer stops at managing finance. The role is evolving into someone who discerns—earlier than the CEO—where AI is creating value, where it is falling short, and what must change. Ultimately, a corporation's competitiveness in the AI era depends not on how much it invests, but on how quickly it can translate AI into corporate value.